I'll always come back for you
by LucyInTheWardrobe
Summary: Months after the big battle in Sokovia. On another mission Pietro rescued, together with the Avengers, two other experiments from a HYDRA laboratory. But what experiments were those? What are their powers? And why can't Pietro aka Quicksilver just stop thinking about this girl?
1. The mission

**Hi! So this is my first english ff. (it isn't my first language so pls be merciful) If you haven't watched aou you should know that this ff contains some major spoilers.**

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The wind has to be really cold up here.

That was the only thing Pietro thought while he ran straight to one of the last standing headquarters of HYDRA. But of course the wind barely even touched him. With his super speed he shot through it like one of Barton's arrows. To his advantage cause despite the super fancy and multifunctional supersuits of the other Avengers he just wore some robust pants, a flexible shirt, not one of those he used to wear but one made of a special material that didn't heat up even at his extreme speed, and his running shoes.

It was, compared to the fight in Sokovia, a small mission.

He still shivered when he thought about the battle that happened 6 months ago.  
He almost died back then, the scars from where the bullets hit him still reminded him of that every day. If he wouldn't have had his fast metabolism, which caused the wounds to heal immediately after he was shot, he would have died, that he was sure of.

But he was almost over it. Together with the help of his twin sister and his new friends in the Avengers he fully recovered.  
Just the memories sometimes haunted his dreams.

To forget everything he poured himself into work. He made long training sessions every day to improve his powers and took part in every mission the Avengers had. Of course he noticed that his sister was worried about him, but he told her that he was fine every time she asked.

He just needed some time. And some distractions.

This mission was perfect for it. Even though HYDRA was destroyed there where still some offshoots, trying to do their own thing and taking part in some crazy world-destruction plan.

As soon as they found the base they assembled a small team, consisting of him, Captain America, Black Widow and Iron Man. All members weren't around all the time in the Avengers headquarter, but they came back when they really needed them. Except for Bruce Banner whom they still haven't found a trace of.

The base was set in Russia, just a few kilometers (according to Pietros thinking of 'few') away from where the big battle happened, making him unwillingly think back about what happened there.

"I got some information." he heard Tony Starks voice through his earphone, "The base is fully occupied whit heavily armed HYDRA agents so watch out that you don't get perforated."

Quicksilver laughed, knowing that this comment was meant for him. He still had some trust issues toward Tony Stark but he kinda liked his humor.

"Also it seems like this base was more of a laboratory where they did some plain crazy experiments. Maybe with humans." Stark added after a short break.

Silence followed and Pietro wondered if he was meant to say something about it, being one of those experiments.

"If," Stark continued, " _if_ there should be some human experiments it would be the best if we get them out of there and bring them to our headquarter. But be careful 'cause I have no idea what kind of experiments those could be. Got it?"

"Got it." Pietro answered at once with the rest of the team.

He didn't quite know what he should do with this information. He very well remembered the time when they experimented with him and his sister. It was a horrible time and they both barely survived the mutations their bodies have gone through. It made him angry thinking that maybe some other people had to go through this against their will.

But he didn't had much more time to think about it cause they had reached the base.  
Together they stormed in.

As Tony said it was full of armed HYDRA agents. Together they fought them, trying to get further into the building. Pietro speeded through the barely lit aisles, dashing past horrible looking labs and knocking out some of the men on his way.

He quickly recognized a similarity. This base was built exactly like the one he and his sister were held in.

Like in trance he ran along the aisles, on and on to the part of the building where their rooms used to be.  
When he reached the dorms he slowed down. He stood before one of the heavy metal doors that were along the aisle. It had a little window whit heavy bars. Pietro looked through it.

The room was barely lit but he could still see something. On one side stood a bed and on the other a sink and a toilet. He almost passed to the next door when he noticed two eyes staring at him. In one of the dark corners sat a child, looking like he was not older than 8.

"Are you alright?" Pietro asked through the small window.

The boy shook his head.

"Okay listen, I'll get you out of there." he said.

He took a step back and hit against the door with full force. Nothing happened. He quickly ran back and grabbed a gun of one of the soldiers he knocked out. He came back and shot at the keyhole. Then he tried once again to kick it down and this time it worked. He saw the boy flinch as the door crashed to the ground. Pietro went to the boy and kneeled down to him.

"Everythings' alright. I'm gonna get you out of here, okay?"

The boy nodded with big eyes.

Pietro picked him up and dashed through the door. But as soon as he got back into the aisle he heard a loud explosion. The heat wave almost knocked him over.

"Get out of here!" he heard Steve shouting through his earphone. "They knew we were coming! This whole building is about to blow up!"

Pietro nodded and was about to run off when the boy said "Wait! You can't leave Ilea here!"

He pointed to the door next to his. Pietro quickly dashed to it and looked through the window. It was exactly the same room but in this one he could see a person laying on the bed.

"Pietro where are you?! Get out!" he heard Tonys voice.

"I need your help!" he replied.

With the boy he dashed toward where he think the voice came from and found Iron Man a few aisles ahead.

"Here, take the boy and get out I'm coming immediately!" and before Tony answered he handed him the boy over and dashed back.

He went to the next door and kicked it in. He dashed to the bed. Now he could see that it was a girl, about his age. She seemed to be sleeping what he couldn't quite understand since the first explosion should have woken her up. But he didn't had much more time to think about it. He quickly picked her up and ran back to the entrance, out of the building and back to the jet.  
He heard the loud explosion of the building and felt the heat on his back but continued running till he reached the others.

"Man, I thought you wanted to stay in there." Steve said as Pietro climbed in the jet. He carefully laid the girl on one of the benches.

"You managed to rescue another experiment?" Natasha asked and surveyed the girl.

"Good job." Steven said and slapped on Pietros back that he almost fell over.

The little boy who sat at the other bench ran over to the girl as soon as he saw her.

"Ilea!" he whispered and grabbed her hand.

Steve kneeled down to the boy and put a hand on his shoulder.

"What's your name kid? And who is she?" he asked him softly.

The boy hesitated shortly.

"I... I'm Jamie. And this is my sister Ilea. Um, but not my real sister I just call her like that."

Steve nodded.

"And do you know why you were in there?"

Jamie got a kind of scared expression.

"They… they did strange things with us." he pointed at his wrist where you could see some small red injection sites. "Every week they put things in our arm and then lock us in our rooms. I always got ill from this stuff and I don't remember much. I don't know what happened to Ilea when she was in her room." he began to tear up.

"It's okay." Natasha said calmly. "Just one more question. Where you the only ones?"

"I don't know." Jamie answered "I've only ever met Ilea."

Natasha nodded.

"But why is she sleeping?" Tony asked who sat behind the helm of the jet and now turned around.

Steve shrugged. They just stood there and obeyed Jamie and the girl.  
Jamie just stood there and held her hand, then he nuzzled his face in her shoulder.

As if she felt his touch Ilea slowly opened her eyes.

She first gazed into space until her eyes slowly wandered to Jamie. She looked at him for a while than smiled lightly.  
Her pupils were so big that you almost couldn't see her eye color.

"They drugged her." Pietro said.

Everyone turned to him.

"They sometimes did this to Wanda." he continued "If she got too destructive they drugged her so she wouldn't devastate everything."

Meanwhile Ilea had closed her eyes again.

"We really need to bring them to the headquarter." Steve stated.

The others sat back down, everyone lost in their own thoughts.

Pietro continued to watch Jamie and Ilea.

They both looked exhausted, whit dark circles under their eyes and hollow cheeks. Ilea was a bit too pale and her long brown hair looked dull. Still she had some specific kind of beauty.

It made him angry to think about how they both had suffered.

He leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, trying to get a bit of sleep on the rest of the flight.

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 **I need to tell you that I won't be able to update regular because of my work schedule (I'm working as a nurse) but reviews can be some big motivators ;)**


	2. Friend or enemy

**Here comes the next chapter! Thank you for all the nice reviews, they're really encouraging!**

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Ilea woke up to the sound of a constant beep sound. She assumed it came from somewhere outside her cell so she decided to keep her eyes closed and maybe catch a bit more sleep.

Just before she drifted away again she realized that something was different. The mattress she laid on was too soft and the temperature around her was warmer than normal. Alarmed she opened wide her eyes.  
The first thing Ilea saw was a white ceiling. As she slowly sat up she found the source of the beeping sound. A cable was attached to her left hand, taking her pulse. Inserted in her right arm was an injection cannula, slowly inserting some clear liquid into her. The room around her looked like a hospital room, with two big windows on the left side of her bed and a door at the other.

But something else had changed.  
Ilea couldn't remember when was the last time that she could think this… clear.  
Once a week since she'd first been into the HYDRA base they drugged her, making her mind blurry. When the effect began to fade after a few days she could eventually grasp a clear thought, but then they drugged her again.

Since she sat up a small light had flashed up on one of the monitors. Before she wondered what that meant the door handle was pushed down. A woman with short hair and a black uniform entered the room.

"Ah, you're finally awake!" she said with a friendly smile.

Ilea was still too confused to answer.

"I'll be back in a few minutes with the doctor." the woman spoke since Ilea seemed to lost her voice.

She disappeared through the door again.

Ilea didn't have much time to think. Where was she? Were those friends or enemies? And what would they do to her when they came back?  
Without hesitating she ripped the cables out of her and got off the bed. The monitors made some alarming beep sounds. She quickly went to the door, trying to push the handle down. To her surprise it easily opened and she stepped into a long aisle. There was a glass wall on one side. Ilea saw that she had to be in one part of a huge building.

But she hadn't much time to look closely at that view as she heard some voices and fast footsteps coming from one side of the aisle.  
She quickly decided to run into the other direction.

Whit a sight of relief she became aware that she was still wearing her old clothes, a plain shirt and some black shorts. She was barefoot but she didn't care and her long brown hair was still undone.

She ran around a few corners, not knowing where exactly to go. Running down some stairs, she passed some confused looking people.  
After a short time Ilea quickly got out of breath.

As she found a fire exist she send up a prayer and pushed down the handle. The door opened.  
With a sigh of relief she stepped out, the soft grass tickling on her bare feet. Before the door closed shut Ilea heard some voices shouting so she decided to take shelter in a nearby scrub.

She flopped herself on the soft ground and leaned against the cold steel wall, cooling down her burning cheeks. After her breathing has settled down she looked through the branches. As she's seen before it was a huge building with white external walls and lots if windows. On one side flaunted a big logo, the letter A in a circle. Ilea was sure that she's already seen it before, but couldn't remember where.

She shook her head. Now was not the time to look around. She had to plan what to do now.  
The first thing that came in her mind was Jamie. Was he in this building too? There was no way she would leave without him. She had to find him, even if that'd mean that she had to use her powers. But where should they go if she found him? Beyond she could see a forest but nothing else.

Ilea put her face in her hands. This was a too much for her.

* * *

Pietro sat at their dinner table next to the kitchen and ate some cereal.  
Everyone had his own room in the Avenger headquarter but most of the time they ate lunch and dinner together. The only Avengers who were around most of the time were him, Wanda, Black Widow, Captain America and Falcon. War Machine and the Vision often had their own missions, which usually kept them busy for several days. Hawkeye decided to take a time out after the big battle to spend more time with his family, but still visited them from time to time. He looked especially after the twins and by this time he felt more like a father towards Pietro and Wanda.

They quickly found out that Wanda and Captain America (to their surprise) where the only ones who could actually cook. So when they didn't order something they both took turns in cooking.

"You know that cereal is not a proper meal for lunch?" Wanda commented as she grabbed herself a bowl and sat down next to him.

"Mhm." Pietro mumbled as an answer.

His sister smiled at him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you alright?" she asked him. He knew that she wanted to sound unconcerned but he knew her for too long to not hear the resonant sorrow in her voice.  
He sighed.

"I can't stop thinking about the experiments we rescued yesterday." he finally confessed, "If they've done the same things to them as they did to us-"

he stopped, trying to fight down the upcoming rage.

Wanda laid her other hand on his.

"But we got over it. And so will they, maybe with our help."

Pietro nodded.

"Are they already awake?" he asked now, "I'm really interested in what their powers are. _If_ they have some." he added.

Wanda shrugged. "I think-"

But she was interrupted by Steve Rogers who stepped into the room.

"The girl fled." He said as he came closer to them.

"What?" Wanda asked confused.

"The experiment, Ilea. She woke up and before we could talk to her she fled. I'm sure she's still on the compound, there is no way she could get over the fence without us noticing. Maybe she stayed because Jamie is still here. However, we have to search for her and explain her that we are no enemies. I count on you." Steve explained.

"'Kay." Pietro said and stood up. He has been bored anyway so a bit activity would do him good. Also he was concerned about the girl. He felt the sudden urge to explain her that they want to help. And that they understand.

"Wait, before you go," Steve remarked to the twins "please be careful and show her that we don't want to harm her. Also we still don't know if she has any powers."

The twins nodded and set off.

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 **I know this was rather a short chapter but I had to explain a few things. The next one will follow soon!**


	3. Exposition

**Here comes the next chapter :) It explains a bit about Ilea and Jamie(but of course not everything). Thank you again for the nice reviews!**

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Ilea didn't know for how long she was just sitting there. At least half an hour.

She had a plan. To get back into the building, find Jamie and then get away from here, or at least hide somewhere until she figured out if they brought them here to help them. Well, to be honest it wasn't much of a plan but it was better than just sitting there, waiting for something to happen.

There were a lot of people in dark uniforms walking around the campus, presumably searching for her, but they didn't find her yet. It seemed that her hiding spot was so easy that no one even tried to look there.  
She waited a few seconds until the coast was clear.  
Collecting all her courage Ilea stood up. She quickly sprinted back to the door she came through. It won't open. She smothered a curse and took a step back. Actually she really didn't want to use her power but it seemed like she didn't have any other way.  
Ilea took a deep breath and concentrated.

"Hey."

The voice came from right behind her.  
Startled Ilea turned around.

Behind her stood a man who seemed to not to be much older than her. Unlike the other uniformed people he just wore simple sportswear.  
His hair had white streaks and he had a stubbly beard.  
Kinda handsome.  
She could've sworn that he hasn't been there a second ago.

"You have to be Ilea." the man continued with a calm voice. He had a bit of an eastern accent.

"How do you know my name?" she asked confused. He didn't seem like he wanted to harm her.

"Jamie told us." he answered unhesitant.

Jamie. They had him too. She took a threatening step towards him.

"Where is he?!" she asked forcefully.

"We don't want to hurt you." the man responded "Yesterday we rescued you both from the HYDRA laboratory. Jamie is still in the medical station."

"Who is ' _we'_?" Ilea asked further.

"The Avengers." he answered.

Of course. That's where she knew the logo from. The big battle in New York happened right before she got to the HYDRA lab and according to what the media told they saved the whole words ass. But that wasn't enough to make her trust him. She couldn't remember _him_ being part of the Avengers.

"How about we go inside and talk about everything?" the man offered when Ilea didn't reply anything.

She thought about it. There weren't many other options. If this really turns out to be some trap she could still use her powers to find Jamie and then get away from here.

"Why should I trust you?" Ilea asked eventually.

He opened his mouth for an answer, then closed it again. Suddenly he lifted his arm, turning his wrist towards her. It was covered with small scars from injecting needles. Exactly like hers.

"Because," he explained "I was an experiment too."

* * *

Pietro looked over his shoulder to make certain that the girl was still following him.  
He got his phone out of the pocket and send the others a message that he found Ilea and that they'd meet in the living room, since that seemed like the least threatening place to him. He's never been a big fan of those phones but Tony modified his so it worked even when he used his super speed. He also wrote that she was no threat, even though he himself wasn't completely sure about that.

"You can call me Pietro by the way." he told her as they walked up the stairs. Ilea hasn't spoken a word since he first showed her his scars. He saw her nodding, but her thoughts seemed to be somewhere else.

They went through the glass doors into the room.  
To be honest it was one of his favorite places in the headquarter. The dinner table next to the open kitchen had place for many people and they often spend their evenings there. And when you go to the left and two steps downstairs there were some comfortable couches and a big flat screen where Wanda usually watched her new discovered TV-shows.

Steve, Tony, Natasha and Wanda already sat on the table.

As soon as Ilea stepped into the room the all stood up and came to greet her. She seemed to recognize Steve, Tony and Natasha, but still looked a bit suspicious as they introduced themselves and shook her hand.

"That's my twin, Wanda." Pietro told her as Wanda got to Ilea.

"Hello Ilea, I couldn't wait to finally meet you! How are your feeling? Do you want a coffee?" she babbled. Something Wanda always did when she was excited.

"I, um, sure." Ilea answered a bit overchallenged.

"Please, let her breathe." Steve said to the others.

"Where's Jamie?" Ilea asked them as soon as they sat back down.

"He recovered fast and he should be here in a minute." Natasha replied.

Through the door at the other side of the room came agent Hill, with Jamie holding one of her hands.

"Jamie!" Ilea called as soon as she saw him. He ran towards her and she kneeled down to embrace him into a hug. She gave him a kiss on his forehead and took his face in her hands.

"Are you alright?" she asked him.

"Yeah, the people here are so nice!" he answered happily.

Ilea nodded and stood up.

"We wanted to ask you a few things." Steve began "Just if you're alright with that. If you still need time to recover-"

"It's ok." she interrupted him.

Pietro watched Ilea sitting down on the table too and pulling Jamie on her lap. Wanda brought her a coffee and a hot chocolate for Jamie.

"Before you ask," Ilea said "I'm still not fully convinced that I can trust you. If this all should be a trap, you'll… get some big problems with me."

"I promise, we just brought you here to help you." Steve assured her.

"So, how did you get to that HYDRA base?"

Ilea laughed dryly.

"That sounds like I just walked in there."

She took a sip of her coffee.

"They captured me about a year ago." she started, "I was born with… a special ability. I was raised by my aunt and she forbid me to use it. She always told me if I use them that people will find me and lock me up. That's why I never really learned to control it. Of course that had its consequences. After years I had an, kinda accident where I lost my control. It leveled a whole village into the ground."

She saw their horrified expressions and added "But no one died! They all fled before I entirely lost it.

That was when I was 21. I fled into another country the year after, afraid that they would find me. And they did. They captured me and brought me into that base, started doing experiments with me." she clutched at her cup. "Then they brought Jamie. He-"

"I was in an orphanage. They said they wanted to adopt me." Jamie interrupted her quite sad. Ilea stroked his brown locks and placed a kiss on his hair.

"And what did they do… with him?" Steve asked carefully.

Ilea sighed as an answer and looked out the window.

"I don't want him to think about it anymore."

Pietro and Wanda looked at each other. He remembered those horrible times and understood that Ilea wanted to protect Jamie.

"How about I show Jamie a bit around?" Hill offered kindly, "We have some really cool cars and jets outside." she said towards Jamie.  
He nodded curiously.

Ilea first seemed like she didn't want to give Jamie away, but then gave in.

She gazed after them until they both left the room.

"When Jamie first came," Ilea continued "our cells were connected through a door and I took care of him." her gaze was still fixed on the door. "He is like a brother to me. The only one I have left."

She shook her head and concentrated on the others again.

"They found a way too convert my blood into a substance. They wanted to know if a human could get my ability when they injected it. They needed Jamie to test it on him.  
At first nothing happened so they tried something new every week. He got very sick and I always feared that he might die from it. I couldn't do much against it, they threatened us with weapons and… other things." she stopped for a short time and took a deep breath.  
Pietro commiserated with her. It was his own fault when he volunteered for the experiment, but Ilea and Jamie were held there against their will.

"I began to train my powers. One day I tried to escape and almost made it. But they captured me again. Since then they drugged me once week so I would stop thinking and stopped me from seeing Jamie. I have no idea how long this went on until I woke up here."

She looked around.

Everyone was quiet for a minute, trying to understand what Ilea just told them.  
Pietro couldn't take his eyes of her. The things she's gone through must've been horrible. Still she tried anything for her and Jamie to survive.

But there was one thing everyone still didn't know.  
Tony was the first one to break the silence.

"But what is your ability? What could be so powerful that they want to get it at every cost?" 

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**Sorry, I just have this thing for cliffhangers. But don't worry I'm already working on the next chapter! If you have questions simply just ask but there are some things I won't reveal until the next chapters.**


	4. Great power

**Ok this will be a really long chapter. Maybe there are some things about Ilea's power that are not easy to understand, but you'll surely get it as the story continues.**

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"She can manipulate the matter."

Ilea turned around to the sound of this new voice. She didn't hear the man coming who now stood a few steps behind them. It wasn't a normal human. He had red skin, but that wasn't the only strange thing about him. He looked like a mix between a real human and a robot. On his forehead glowed a yellow gem.  
His appearance alone would have Ilea make a run for it but his expression had something… peaceful.

He took a few steps towards Ilea and reached out his hand to greet her.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Ilea. I am the Vision." he introduced himself.

"Man, you have a thing for dramatic appearances." Natasha said, more to herself.

"Manipulate _what_? How do you know that?" Steve asked, ignoring her comment.

"I knew about Ilea's existence since I found some secret information inside Ultron's database. But even he didn't know where she was hidden and that was to our advantage. I can't imagine the things that would have happened if he got hold of her. When I heard that you found her in a HYDRA lab I came here as soon as possible." Vision explained. "We need to protect her at all cost. Her powers can have a devastating consequence when used for the wrong thing. I'm sure these people weren't even fully aware of what massive weapon they had."

"I'm not a weapon!" Ilea angrily rose from her seat.

"Of course you're not." Vision replied with his calm voice, "Your powers are."

"Ok, ok wait." Tony interrupted and soothingly lifted his hands. "She can do _what_? _Manipulate_ _matter?"_

"I'm sure she can explain it the best." Vision said.

Ilea looked at him with narrow eyes, but then sighed.

"Fine." she started "It is true that I can manipulate the matter. But I'm not in full control those powers. That's why the easiest thing I can do is this."

She concentrated on the chair she just sat on. It slowly began to disappear in front of everyone's eyes. Like it was suddenly made of dust that slowly disappeared. At the same time the chair began to appear simultaneously a few feet away from her.

"That is not teleporting." she explained further "As you know everything consists of matter, an accumulation of millions and millions of atoms. When there is already something existing, like this chair, I can easily comprehend every atom, turning them into something around it like oxygen, and then make it appear somewhere else, reversing the process."

"Sorry, but I don't really get it." Steve interrupted.

"She can transform Atoms as she pleases." Tony explained and then began to laugh.

Everyone looked at him.

"Don't you understand what she just told us?" Tony said bewildered "When you can transform billions of atoms with a single thought… that would make her the most powerful being on earth! Just think about it. Summon nuclear weapons out of nothing! Dissolve people without moving! She could even-"

"Stop!" Ilea yelled now.

"I'm not in full control of my powers. I'm not even close! I don't think that I would be able to do that even with years of practicing!"

"It could still kill people."

"So can all of you!"

"She is right Tony." Vision interrupted them. "Summon things out of nothing is… on a whole new level. There is not much danger in her power as it is now. The only thing we need to concentrate on is that no one else gets wind of her existence. So if you would please calm down."

Ilea crossed her arms.

"It would be the best if you would stay here for now, as you're not safe anywhere else." Vision told her.

"Only if Jamie can also stay here."

"Of course. That will be no problem."

Ilea nodded.

"Well, today has been a long day. I assume it would be the best if we could all settle down a bit. Especially you, Tony" Vision spoke "Wanda, would you be so kind and show Ilea her room?"

* * *

"I'll give you some of my clothes until we'll get some for you." Wanda told her as she showed Ilea her new bedroom.

The room was big, whit brown painted walls and great windows on one side. She had her own king-size bed and a nightstand, next to a wardrobe. On the other side stood a small desk and a chair.

"Here you get into your bathroom." Wanda said, pointing to another door.

"And Jamie's room is right next to yours."

"Thank you." Ilea answered as she looked around. Compared to the cell in the lab this was sheer luxury. They were quiet for a minute.

"I'm sorry about Stark." Wanda broke the silence. "Sometimes he can be very difficult."

"It's ok. His reaction was reasonable."

Wanda nodded.

"Can I ask you something?" Ilea asked.

"Sure."

"Your brother told me he was an experiment too." she began, trying to find the right words "What about you?"

Wanda smiled softly and sat down on the bed.

"Yeah, we were together in one of those labs. But it was our own fault. Back then we volunteered for the experiment, thinking we could revenge the death of our parents with it." she started playing with her hands. "We didn't have had powers from the beginning like you had. They experimented a lot with us, and we barely survived in this time. But we fled when the Avengers found the base and later helped them defeat Ultron. He tried to destroy the world back then."

"Isn't that what they always want to do." Ilea chuckled.

"Yeah." Wanda laughed too, but then turned serious again "Pietro almost died on that battle. I'm still not sure if he's completely over it." she finished with a sigh.

"And um, what exactly is your power?" Ilea asked a bit curious.

As an answer Wanda lifted one of her hands. A red radiance encased her hand and so did the chair she looked at. She easily lifted it with a slight movement of her hand. Then she moved the chair back to the ground.

"I can also manipulate minds, but that's a thing I wouldn't want to demonstrate you." Wanda added.

Ilea was speechless for a minute. In her days in the lab she had already heard of people with great powers but she has never seen someone in action except for herself.  
"Wow." was the only thing she could say. Wanda laughed.

"Compared to your powers that's nothing. You have no idea of what you're capable of."

"But I can't even really control them. It's like a burden I'm not sure I can bear." Ilea returned quietly.

Wanda stood up and laid a hand on Ilea's arm.

"You're a strong woman, Ilea. I know you'll do it."

Ilea nodded, even though it was hard for her to believe what Wanda said.

"And what are your brother's powers?" Ilea asked, now being curious.

Wanda smiled amused.

"I'm sure he'll show it to you."

Ilea rolled her eyes but smiled back.

"So, um I think I'll leave you alone now so you can rest a bit." Wanda said and went back to the door.

"If you have a questions or some girly needs just ask me, ok?"

"Sure." Ilea replied thankful.

After Wanda left the room Ilea stood just there. So many things happened today. Just yesterday she was still trapped in the HYDRA base, now she was in the Avenger headquarter, in her very own bedroom. It was a lot to think about and Ilea decided that it would be the best if she did this with a hot shower.

She stayed in her bathroom for at least an hour, not just showering but doing some simple body care she wasn't able to do for over a year. Finally she tried to comb out all the knots in her hair and put it into a ponytail. She looked at herself in the mirror.  
Satisfied she noticed that she looked much better now. She was still quite thin, a result of being malnourished for over a year, but she hopefully would gain a bit weight here.

As Ilea came out of the bathroom she saw that Wanda had laid some clothes on her bed. And something for dinner.

She didn't know what she had expected but surely not a chinese take-away.

After she put on some blue Jeans and a shirt Ilea flopped herself on her bed and gratefully ate the food.  
Outside the window she could see the sun set.

At about 8 pm she went over to Jamie's room. He already wore a pyjama, consisting of a really wide shirt.

"Ilea, look! I have an own bedroom!" he said happily and twirled around. Ilea laughed.

"You should really go to bed now, today has been a long day."

Jamie pouted, but walked over to his bed. Ilea pulled the blanked over him and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Ilea, are we going to stay here?" Jamie asked as she stroked his hair.

"I think so."

"Good, because I like it here." he said with a big smile.

Ilea leant forward to give him a kiss on his forehead.

"Good night, Jamie." she said as she walked over to the light switch.

"Good night Ilea." he replied as she turned off the lights and went through the door.

She strolled back to her room. Even though it was already dark outside it was way too early for her to go to bed. She decided to get some fresh air.

* * *

A warm breeze swept over the grass. Summer was almost over but the evenings were still quite warm.  
A lot of things happened today and so Pietro had decided to go for a late night jog.  
His normal route went around the whole compound and by now there was already a visible trail.

He was already on his 6th lap when he suddenly stopped. He recognized a shadow in the middle of the meadow, a few hundred meters away from the headquarter. As he came closer he saw her silhouette.  
Ilea sat on the grass, her face raised to the night sky, watching the stars.

She did not notice him before he was just a few feet away from her.  
She flinched and looked up at him. As soon as she recognized him Ilea averted her face again.

"I'm not planning to run away." she quickly defended herself.

"I didn't think anything of it." he replied. "I'm sure you would have taken Jamie with you."

She nodded.

"I didn't see you coming." Ilea said after a short moment of silence.

Pietro had to laugh at that comment. Normally he was the one to say that.

"People usually don't."

Now Ilea took a closer look at him.

"Your sister told me that she was an experiment too. Her powers are pretty... fascinating."

She ripped a few grass blades while she talked.

"What are your powers?"

Pietro smiled. The next second the only thing Ilea saw at the place where Pietro was just standing, was a blur. But before she could even wonder what happened to him he appeared in front of her again, holding a flower out to her.

"What the... Where did you get that from?" Ilea asked confused and took the flower.

"They grow on the other side of the compound." Pietro answered and pointed somewhere in the distance.

"So you're like... super fast?"

He smiled and sat down next to her.

"Exactly."

His accent made her smile. Ilea kinda liked it.

She played with the flower in her hands.  
The full moon was very bright this night and Pietro had time look at her more closely. He didn't realized until now how blue her eyes where behind her thick lashes. Her skin seemed almost white through the moonlight, giving a strong contrast to her dark brown hair.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he suddenly asked.

"About what?"

"About… what happened in the laboratory." He held her gaze.

Ilea was quiet.

"Maybe it will help if you talk. To get over it." he continued.

Ilea looked down. Her cheeks burned. 'He must think that I'm completely fragile', she thought.  
She quickly stood up and brushed the grass off her legs.

"Thanks, but I'll get over it myself. I'm not a fragile little girl" she snapped back, not knowing where the sudden anger came from. Pietro stood next to her faster than she could look.

"That has nothing to do with weakness." he replied, his voice still calming.

Ilea held his gaze. Suddenly she felt a lump in her throat.

Before he could continue she turned around and walked back towards the building. Right before she reached the door she looked back to Pietro, but he was already gone.

* * *

 **Ok I know her power is a bit difficult to understand, since I couldn't think of any superhero to compare her to. It will be easier to understand in the next chapters! But of course you can still ask me questions :)**


	5. Memories

**Hi! Sorry that it took me a while to update but I've been very busy.**

 **Just want to tell you that I'm happy about every single review and I read them all, so thank you!**

* * *

It was early in the morning when Ilea woke up.  
She dressed herself and scuffed over to the living room, still half-asleep. Wanda sat on the dinner table with a bowl of cereal. Next to her stood Vision, talking to her.

"Good morning." Ilea yawned.

"Good morning, Ilea." they replied simultaneously then looked back at each other and smiled.

Ilea cleared her throat and went to the kitchen, looking through the drafts until she found herself a bowl and a spoon then went back at the table.

"Why are you two awake so early?" she asked as she poured cereal and milk into her bowl.

"I'm an early bird." Wanda answered.

"And I need to leave soon because I wasn't able to finish my mission earlier." Vision explained "Is Tony still around? I need to discuss a few things with him."

Wanda nodded and Vision left through the door.

"Is there something going on? Between you and Vision?" Ilea asked curiously.

"What? Of course not!" Wanda quickly replied but Ilea could see her cheeks turning red.

"Why not?"

Wanda sighed and put her hands on her cheeks to cool them down.

"He isn't even a real human if you haven't realized."

"So are we."

"That's not what I mean!" Wanda groaned and laid her face on the table, making Ilea laugh.

"What's so funny?" Steve asked as he came through the door that led outside to the compound. You could tell by his wet shirt that he has been outside for a jog.

"Nothing!" Wanda quickly answered.

"Good morning ladies!" Tony said as he came into the room, followed by Vision.

Steve looked up to the ceiling, presumably praying that he'll get through another day without punching him into the face.

"Sorry about yesterday, Ilea." Tony said towards her "Yesterday was a bit… weird. But I need to say your powers are kind of mind-blowing."

Ilea waved with her hand "It's fine."

"But there are indeed a few things I wanted to ask you or else they are going to keep me awake for the next few weeks."

"Fire amway." she said with a spoonful cereal in her mouth.

"Well, I got it yesterday that you can manipulate matter that is, let's say 'dead'." he glanced over to Steve who presumably didn't understand most of the science stuff "But what about organic matter? Technically you should then be able to manipulate and relocate it too."

Ilea chewed and thought about how to explain it to them the best.

"That's a bit more difficult. Let's go outside, I'm gonna show it to you." she said and stood up.

When they got outside through the door there was a big training ground Ilea didn't recognize the day before. She saw Natasha doing some morning gymnastics and Pietro was running a few laps. They both joined them when they saw them outside.  
Ilea avoided Pietro's gaze, already regretting her stupid action yesterday.

"Well," she began to explain, "organic matter is something whole different. Even though it consists, like everything else, of atoms. Let's take plants." She pointed to a small offspring of the nearby maple. "The structure of a living object is much more difficult. But if I'm concentrated I can easily relocate it."

The others watched as Ilea made the plant disappear and reappeared a few feet away.

"If I make the smallest mistake in the basic structure of the plant it will rapidly die off. If I want to relocate a whole tree it will take me much more time."

"And what about other living things?" Tony asked further.

"Technically I should be able to relocate them too. But I can't."

She looked around, searching for something to demonstrate it on. As she saw a small butterfly flying across the grass she pointed it out to the others and then repeated the process she did with the plant. But as the butterfly reappeared it didn't continue flying but fell to the ground.

"Same goes for animals… and humans."

The others looked at her but she didn't wanted to explain them how she found that out.

"Every living creature has something that keeps it alive. Call it what you want, a soul, life-breath, whatever. But as soon as I begin to transform their Atoms I kill it off, even when I make them appear somewhere else at the same time."

She looked around to make sure that everyone understood it. When she met Pietro's gaze she felt the blood rushing into her cheeks.

"So you can't relocate yourself?" Steve asked now.

Ilea laughed.

"I didn't try but it would be the logical conclusion that it will kill me too."

"Oh."

"Ok so let's say that maybe _one day_ you'll be able to control your power enough to create anything you like, and you would create a human body. It's more likely not to be alive?" Tony asked.

"I don't think so."

He nodded, still deep in thoughts.

"If that's all I'd like to finish my cereal." Ilea told them and went back in to escape from Pietro's gaze.

* * *

Ilea spend most of the morning and afternoon exploring the building together with Jamie. It was much bigger on the inside as she first thought and even after a few hours they haven't seen everything yet.

But now it was 5 pm and Ilea sat at the dinner table, watching Wanda as she prepared the dinner. Her own cooking skills weren't that bad but Wanda insisted that she didn't need any help.  
Ilea looked over to Jamie who sat on a couch in front of the TV, watching some kids show. Growing up in an orphanage he's never really been able to watch TV.

"I hope he doesn't get addicted to it." Ilea said.

"Don't worry, we have a lot of things around here much more interesting than some TV shows." Wanda answered, rattling with some pots.

"If you say so." she replied doubting.

They were quiet again, everyone busy with their own thoughts.

"Have you considered to talk about your time in the laboratory?" Wanda suddenly asked and snapped Ilea out of her thoughts.

That was almost the same thing Pietro said to her yesterday.

"Did your brother told you to ask me that?" she replied rather angrily. She didn't expected Pietro to be someone to run to his sister instantly.

"My brother? No. Why would you think so?" Wanda said confused.

"Oh." Ilea responded, feeling a bit awkward "It's just… I met him outside yesterday. And he suggested the same thing."

Wanda simply nodded.

"He doesn't seems like it when you first meet him, but he is very caring."

Ilea sighed as Wanda unknowingly reminded her again of how stupid her reaction yesterday was.

"I think he hates me now."

"Why should he?"

"He was just being nice and I acted like a bitch." Ilea answered and laid her head on the table. Actually it shouldn't matter to her if he liked her or not but it kinda… did.

"Don't worry, he isn't very resentful." Wanda told her with a smile.

* * *

After dinner Ilea allowed Jamie one more hour of TV before he had to get ready for bed. It felt good to be able to put him to bed again.

As she wanted to go to sleep herself she was still wide awake. Ilea knew when she went to bed now that maybe nightmares about the lab would creep into her dreams.

So she went outside again, to the same spot as yesterday.  
Not that she hoped that Pietro would stop by again.

The moon was still very bright that night. She looked at the stars again.  
They were the same, no matter where she was. It was a thing she could hold on. Stargazing was a thing she had always done, before she went to the laboratory. There she was locked up in a cell and not allowed to leave it.  
But she didn't want to think about it anymore. She wanted to lock the memories up, swallow them, and never think about it again. Because as soon as she did she felt a lump in her throat. Crying wasn't an option to her as it made her feel weak and that was something she didn't want to show anyone. She had to be strong. For Jamie and for herself. It wasn't the right time to show weakness.

She laid down on her back, closed her eyes and tried to remember a time where life was easier.

"Are you alright?"

She opened her eyes again, just to see Pietro's face hovering over her.

Ilea quickly sat up, not knowing if she should be happy that he showed up again.

"I'm fine. What are you doing here?"

"I was out for a jog." he pointed at the trail that went past just a few meters away from Ilea's spot. "What are _you_ doing here?"

He didn't sound angry but Ilea still couldn't tell if he was mad at her.

"I don't know, I was just looking for a good spot for stargazing."

He put his hands in his pockets and looked at the stars too. He sighed.

"Nice spot, but I know a better one."

He offered his hand.

With a short hesitation she grabbed it and let him pull her up.

"It's about a 30 minutes walk in this direction." he told her and vaguely pointed somewhere in the dark.

Ilea perked her eyebrows up. She wasn't in the mood for a hike.

"If you don't mind I'll do the running. You're way too slow." he said with a cheeky smile.

Before Ilea could even think about what he meant he picked her up and dashed off. In her surprise and the sudden speed the only thing Ilea did was to cling onto him, but after a few seconds it was already over. Pietro put her back down but her legs felt like jelly. He quickly steadied her before her legs could give in.

"You could've at least warned me!" she shouted but had to laugh. That just felt like a short trip on a roller-coaster.

He grinned.

"I forgot. Remind me next time."

After Ilea felt stable again she looked around. They stood on solid ground, stone to be certain, right next to a cliff. She stepped closer to it and leaned on the railing that was set along it. Deep down she could see and hear the waves crashing on the stone.

"Wow." she said "Are we still on the compound of the headquarter?"

"Yeah, it's actually much bigger than it seems."

He walked next to her and leaned against the railing too, also looking down on the waves.

They were both quiet for a while, just the sound of the breaking waves filling the silence.

"I'm sorry about yesterday." he said suddenly "I shouldn't have asked you, I mean, we just got you out of there."

"No," Ilea interrupted him "you did nothing wrong, I shouldn't have been so bitchy, I just," she took a deep breath "I just don't want to talk about it or think about it anymore."

"Why?"

"It will make me weak."

She wasn't able to explain further but hoped that he would understand.

"It has nothing to do with weakness." he repeated the same words he said yesterday "I used to think like this too."

He pushed himself off the railing and turned around so he leaned with the back against it and crossed his arms.

"I… got nightmares. After we escaped from the HYDRA base. I told it no one, not even my sister. The whole time I tried to block it out, thinking that it would go away eventually. But it didn't. It breaks you from the inside. My sister found out and helped me to get over it. It is no weakness. Just human."

Ilea didn't respond. He asked himself if she might be angry of him again, but decided to wait till she said something.

He heard a dripping sound and looked up at the sky. Not a single cloud was in sight. He turned to Ilea to ask her if she heard it too.

Even though it was dark Pietro could still see the tears running down her cheeks. She didn't made a singe noise while she cried, something he had learned too on his time in the laboratory.

"Ilea." he said and quickly moved to her side.

"It's alright, you're both save now." he said calmly, not knowing what to do. The only crying women he ever needed to comfort was his sister and she almost never did.

So he did the only thing he knew. He put his arms around her and pulled her into a hug.

He felt her shaking against his chest.

"It's okay to cry." he told her, the same thing he always said to Wanda.

Ilea now wrapped her hands around him, clinging to his shirt.

"It's okay." he whispered again and laid one hand on her hair. She was shorter than him so he could place his chin on her head. She quietly started sobbing, making his shirt wet with her tears.

"It was so awful there. I spend every minute fearing for my life." she whispered after a while.

"I know," he tried to sooth her and slowly stroked her back "I know."

And so they just stood there for a while, holding each other. After what seemed to him like a whole eternity Ilea carefully freed herself from his embrace.

"Sorry," she said with a small laugh, "I made your shirt wet."

"No problem." he answered, his eyes still fixed on her.

Even with reddened eyes she still looked gorgeous.

"Do you feel better?"

Ilea nodded and wiped her face with her shirtsleeve.

"I hope you also planned to carry me back because now I'm _totally_ not in the mood for hiking."

He laughed again.

"I'm serious. I'm totally out of shape, I should start training." she laughed too.

"You can join me for my morning jog tomorrow. 7 am."

"7 am?" she groaned "I think there is no coffee strong enough to have me awake that early."

"We'll see." he answered grinning and picked her up again, dashing back towards the headquarter.

* * *

 **So the coming week will be very stressful so I won't be able to update that soon but I'm trying to!**

 **Don't forget to review!**


	6. An offer

**Here comes the next chapter!**

* * *

It was shortly after 7 am in the morning and Pietro wondered where Ilea was.

She had agreed to join him on his morning jog the night before. Maybe she has been serious about not being able to leave her bed before 9 am… or she just forgot so set an alarm clock.

With a sigh he went back to the floor where their bedrooms were. His was just a few steps away from Ilea's.

He slightly knocked on her door and waited. He heard a soft groan coming from the inside. The next thing he heard was some stumbling and finally a sleepy Ilea opened the door.

"Oh, is it already 7?" she yawned.

"Quarter past 7 to be certain." he answered with a smile. Through the door he could see into her room.  
It was already bright outside and he could see someone else lying in her bed. The only thing Pietro could recognize were Jamie's brown locks, buried beneath a pile of pillows. He seemed to still be asleep.

Ilea followed his sight.

"He had a nightmare again." she explained quietly "He always used to crawl into my bed when he had one."

She looked back at Pietro.

"Give me one minute I'll just quickly change."

* * *

He waited for her in the living room. Ilea was struggling to put her hair into a ponytail as she came into the room, wearing some sportswear. Pietro couldn't help it but notice how good she looked in it.

"Please tell me there's coffee."

Pietro had to laugh when he saw her face lit up as he handed her a cup of the brown liquid.

"I'm serious, you can count me out without coffee in the morning." she said as she quickly emptied her cup.

"Whatever keeps you alive." he smirked.

She placed her empty cup on the table and followed him outside through the door.

Ilea had to persuade him that there was no way she would even make one lap on his normal jogging route which went around the whole compound and was presumably a few miles long.

"I tell you, I weren't out for a jog for over a year. How about we just do a few laps on the training ground, I mean, it's big enough."

"And one more thing." she said before they started jogging "No powers allowed. You need to walk on a human speed."

Pietro laughed.

"I'll try."

On the first few minutes Ilea could easily catch up with him. It was actually funny for her to watch him struggling to stay at a normal speed. But after 20 minutes she realized that she horribly overestimated herself. It was actually an understatement that she was out of shape and making no sport for a year paid off now.

She slowed down and gasped for air.

"That's really not your sport, is it?" Pietro laughed at her as he slowed down too.

Ilea looked at him angrily. In return she used her power to transform the air above him into water, making it fall down on him in a big splash.

His shocked expression was priceless and Ilea couldn't help but burst out into laughter.

"You didn't see that coming, huh?" she laughed, being close to tears.

After Pietro recovered from the shock he had to laugh too.

"How did you do that? I mean where did you get the water from?" he asked.

"Please," she answered and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye "there's nothing easier to create than simple water molecules."

She looked at Pietro who was soaking wet now, trying not to obviously stare at his abs that loomed through his wet shirt. That boy was definitely well built and Ilea had to resist the urge to bite down on her lip.

"Maybe you should really try to improve your powers. If that was easy for you, you'll definitely get more powerful with a few training sessions." he suggested and wringed out his shirt, granting Ilea a short glimpse on his body.  
This time he caught her starring and grinned at her.

She felt her cheeks turning red and headed back to the building.

"I'm done for today! You can continue running a few laps, don't mind me."

She shortly stretched her legs and could already feel the muscle ache she'd have tomorrow.

He reached her as she got through the door.

"I thought you wanted to run a few more laps?"

"I just did 100 more."

"Liar!" she laughed and slapped at his shoulder.

"Ok, you got me, it were just 76." he answered and pretended to be in pain where she hit him.

"I'm glad to see that our new member is already getting along with you."

Ilea firstly didn't recognize the man as she was walking the living room. But there he was, a middle-aged black man with an eye patch.

"Director Fury." she hear Pietro greet him.

"Member of what?" Ilea asked suspicious.

"That's something we can talk about later." the man answered and stepped closer to Ilea to greet her "I'm Nick Fury, the leader of the Avengers headquarter. I've been busy the past few days but now I'm glad to finally meet you in person. Stark already told me a lot about you. He's pretty fascinated."

"What did he tell?" she asked as she shook his hand.

"Everything you've told us so far." Fury answered.

"How about you go for a change Pietro," he told him and took a questioning look at his shirt "and I'll have a quick talk with Ilea?"

Pietro hesitated for a short moment and looked at Ilea, then back to Fury. But then he shrugged and disappeared in a blur trough the door.

"I need to say that I have never met someone with such an amazing ability like yours." Fury started and walked over to a chair on the table.

"And believe me I've seen lots of crazy stuff."

Ilea got herself a water bottle since she was thirsty after the jog and then sat down next to him.

"Mhm." she mumbled as she emptied the bottle, but still watched him carefully.

She had some trust issues towards men with authority since last year.

"And what do you want from me now?"

"I have an offer for you." he stated and leaned back in his chair. "Apparently It seems like you decided to trust us."

"Trust the Avengers." she corrected him.

"This is the Avengers." he said with a sweeping Gesture "Everything here is about them. Everyone here works for the Avengers. Those big guys doing some missions to keep world peace is surely a big thing but it is just half of the work. Politics, bureaucracy, those are things other people work for and if you trust the Avengers you need to trust all of us, me included.  
I'm very aware you just had an awful year in this laboratory and surely have some trust issues now, but I need to know if you can trust us.  
Can you?"

His words were calm but stern. Ilea thought about his words. It was true what he said, and she needed to trust _someone_.

So she nodded.

"Good." He smiled and leaned on the table, crossing his fingers.

"It seems that you like it here. Do you plan to stay?"

"I think so."

"It's better like this. As I said you have a special ability. Very powerful, even if you're not in full control of it, but dangerous in the wrong hands. We try everything to keep your identity a secret but I can't tell if something already got outside. If that should happen you can be sure that there will be people who want to get you at any cost turning up at our doorstep faster than you can think, and trust me, they won't knock."

Ilea nodded. She understood that now.

"What about Jamie?"

"He is in no danger since he was just an test object, not having any own powers."

Ilea sighed of relief.

"But back to my offer." he continued "After you settle in here in a few months I will offer you to take part in some of our missions."

"As an Avenger?" She asked startled.

"As an Avenger. Your powers are strong. Have you ever thought about how much good you can do with it?"

Ilea was quiet, thinking about what he just told her.

"How do you know that _you_ can trust _me_?" she finally asked him, looking straight into his eyes.

"It's a risk I have to take. But I've seen you with Jamie yesterday, and I can't believe that someone this caring would have evil intentions."

Ilea didn't know how to respond to this, so she just kept listening.

"If you start to work on your powers now you might get better, maybe being able to do great things, but that is something you should think through very well."

"So you are telling me I should not improve my powers?"

"No," he answered with a knowing expression, "I'm saying that you should only do so if you're sure can handle that power."

* * *

Ilea was still thinking about this conversation as she sat in the grass in the late evening, same spot as always. "Have you ever thought about how much good you can do with it?" Fury had asked her. But what did he mean by good? She could only think about the horrible thing her powers have caused.  
The small village she destroyed.  
The man from the HYDRA base she... killed when she made her first attempt to break out, the reason why she knew she can't relocate humans.  
Could she really use her power for good?

Ilea heard a small noise and looked up just to see Pietro grinning at her. Of course he had showed up again.

"So is this now our thing or what?" she joked as he stood in front of her.

He smiled down to her and reached out his hand to pull her up.

"You want to go back to our spot yesterday?" he asked.

Ilea liked the way he said it.  
 _Our_ spot. His accent making it sound like something really special.  
And maybe it was.

"As long as you do the walking."

He laughed and picked her up, running back to the cliff in a few seconds.

They just leaned on the railing for a while, letting the sound of the waves fill the silence.  
But it was no awkward silence. It was more like a conversation without words, something they both appreciated.

Ilea was glad that he stopped to tell her to talk about her time in the lab. That wasn't something easily done, but she got it now that it was better to do so.  
It still stuck in her mind that it would make her look weak, but as long as it was just Pietro seeing her this way she was ok with that.

Eventually she started talking.

And he was there for her to listen.

* * *

 **Gosh I love this whole fluff stuff as much as you do. I know this chapter was a bit short but the next one is going to be really long! (Don't worry, it gets more exciting)**

 **Pls don't forget to review!**


	7. Intruder

**As promised here comes the long chapter! I'm sorry it took me so long to update but my schedule has been really tough. Now please enjoy the story**

* * *

It's been over two weeks now that Ilea had the conversation with Fury, but she still couldn't get herself together to finally start practicing her powers.

Right now she sat outside on the grass. Ilea wanted to spend the last warm days outside, gathering the last sun steaks.

"Ilea look what I made!" Jamie called her.

She glanced over at him.

That morning before Stark had left for some important meetings at his 'Stark-tower', he proudly called it, he had brought Jamie some stuff to play with. One of those kits with lots of metal parts, tools and screws one could assemble.

"He's going to be an engineer, I can feel it." Tony had proudly stated as he gave it to him.

What Jamie built was a car, or at least looked like one.

"Wow, well done!" she told him with a smile.

To be honest she had actually planned to spend the whole day finally trying to practice her powers, but somehow she didn't know where to start. And Fury's words still stuck with her.

She concentrated on the air in front of her and tried to take apart the individual atoms.  
Her first goal was to create some glass, as it contains a few more difficult molecules.

"Huh?" she heard Jamie exclaim surprised.

Ilea turned to him again and saw that the screwdriver he was just holding vanished from his hand.  
She frowned. It couldn't have been her, she wasn't even concentrating on anything near him.  
As she looked around she saw it lying two feet away from him and handed it back to Jamie. Could have he…? No way. Surely Ilea had been distracted and accidentally did it.

This time she sat down a few steps further afar from him, for his own safety.

Ilea concentrated again but had to stop after a few minutes as she just couldn't think of any way it could work. Sure, creating millions of atoms of one kind was rather easy, but complex things consist of billions of different atoms and molecules, so many that there was no way she would ever be able to control it.

She could feel herself getting a headache and began to massage her temples.

"Everything alright?" Ilea heard Wanda's voice from behind.

"Yeah, sure." she replied as Wanda sat down next to her.

The two women were quiet for a while.

"Fury told me I should train my powers." Ilea stated.

"Are you progressing?"

She sighed deeply as an answer.

"I'll take this as a no." Wanda smiled.

"It's not just that I can't find a way to train them." Ilea told her "But Fury told me I should only do so if I can _'handle that power_.' " she tried to imitate his words.

"And you don't think you can?"

"I don't know!" Ilea groaned frustrated and leaned back on the grass.

"Ilea," Wanda started with the calm voice of hers "I am 100% confident that you can. You're one of the strongest woman I've ever met and if someone would be able to handle it than it would surely be you."

"But I don't even know how." Ilea sat back up.  
She looked at Wanda.  
"How do you do it? You know, the whole telekinesis and mind-manipulating stuff."

"Ermmm…" Wanda replied "to be honest it's not really a thing I understand, it's more like a … like a feeling."

Wanda saw Ilea's uncomprehending gaze and sighed.

"Ok, I'm trying to show it to you." Wanda leaned over and put both her hands on the sides of Ilea's head "Just if you agree, of course."

"Go on."

Ilea watched as Wanda closed her eyes and frowned in concentration. She could see a red radiance around her eyes and suddenly she stopped perceive everything around her, as if all her senses had stopped.  
It was like Wanda showed her something through her mind. The way she uses her powers.  
Ilea now understood what she meant with 'feeling'. She didn't think about it when she used her power, she just did.

Wanda took her hands off her head again and Ilea slowly returned into the present.

"Did you understand?" Wanda asked.

Ilea nodded. Of course Wanda's abilities where different than hers but still… there was something they both had in common.

Ilea concentrated again and tried to create something, this time not thinking much about how exactly she did it.

As she opened her eyes again she could see a perfect round sphere of glass in front of her.

"Wow!" Wanda exclaimed, "I told you can to it!"

Ilea was stunned herself.

"What's going on here?" sounded a curious voice that suddenly came from right in front of them.

"Ilea is improving her powers." Wanda answered her brother happily.

"Is that so?" Pietro picked the glass ball up and threw it in the air just to easily catch it again, making an impressed face.

Ilea automatically blushed. Wanda didn't know that the two of them almost spent every evening together on the cliff, _on their_ _spot_ , and didn't get any of the flirting Pietro did when no one was around.  
But still Ilea had the slight feeling that Wanda somehow knew about them.

But in the past weeks Ilea and Pietro didn't get any further than hugging and slowly Ilea began to wonder why. She had to admin she kinda fell for him but didn't he too?

"Hey kids, are you doing all the fun stuff without me?"

They all three turned around as they heard Clint's voice from the door.

He came for a visit yesterday and wanted to stay at least for a week.  
Ilea had quickly came to trust him as she saw what kind of relationship he had with the twins. Even though Pietro always called him 'old man' and mocked him, Ilea could still see that Clint was more of a father figure for him.

Clint came right after Natasha had to leave for a mission, but she had promised her that Clint would continue their training in martial arts she had asked her for. Just for her self-defense (and she admired how badass Natasha always looked doing it.)

"Sorry, but you're way too old to keep up with us." Pietro laughed at him.

* * *

The next day Ilea had spent the whole afternoon sitting in the grass, trying to draw the surrounding country.  
Since she had a lot of free time now she wanted to follow up one of her old hobbies.  
She got the sudden idea as she inspected one of Tony's workrooms and found a stack of sketch-sheets and pencils. (She didn't ask him when she took them but since he's a billionaire he'd surely have no problem with that.)

At first her attempts were a bit rusty but at the end she was pleased with the result.  
But a cold breeze turned up and Ilea wanted to go back in to get herself a jacket. She enjoyed the feeling of the grass on her feet and looked up to see the beautiful blue sky.  
It was one of those days that make you feel like it could actually be a good life. Where you just take some deep breaths and smile at the sky. Those were really rare moments in Ilea's life.

"Excuse me, madam."

Still smiling she turned around to see a man looking at her, an agent, Ilea thought as she saw his uniform.

"Yes?"

"Are you Miss Ilea?" he asked formal.

"I am." she answered a bit suspicious. She's been around here for a while now and normally everyone knew her face. Maybe he was new here.

"Director Fury sent me, if you would please follow me."

Ilea hesitated. As she knew by now Fury would have rather come to her by himself, or at least would've sent someone she knew.

"Please tell Fury he can come here by himself if he wants to talk to me."

She quickly passed the man and continued her way back to the building, a bit faster this time.

"I'm sorry, but I can't accept that answer." she suddenly heard his voice right behind her.

Before she could turn around to face him again she felt a strong hit against her head and blacked out.

* * *

Steve was outside for a jog as always.  
That day he had found a small trial around the campus, presumably Pietro's route, and decided to test it. He wasn't even halfway through his first lap as he felt a rush of air on his left.

"Hey Cap, I see you found my route." Pietro said as he jogged backwards in front of him, without a single sign of effort, even though Steve's jogging style remembered more of a sprint.

"Yeah, you have a great look at the countryside here."

Pietro wanted to turn around and dash forwards as he saw Steve's alarmed expression. He turned around.

On the meadow a few hundred meters away from them stood two figures, an agent, according to his uniform. He held another person who seemed to collapse.  
Pietro couldn't exactly tell who the other person was but he dashed forwards anyway. Cap following, but way slower than him.

He recognized Ilea as he saw her brown hair, causing him to run even faster.

"What's going on?!" he asked as he stood next to the agent. The man jumped as he heard his voice, clearly not expecting him.

Pietro instantly went to Ilea, grabbed her from the hold of the man and carefully laid her on the grass.

"What happened?!" he asked the man again while he examined her for wounds. She seemed unconscious but not hurt.

Pietro couldn't see how the man got a hold of himself again quickly, instantly pulled his gun and pointed it at Pietro.

But right before he could shoot Steve had finally reached him and knocked the man down with a single solid punch. Surprised Pietro looked at the agent who now laid face-first next to him in the grass, the gun right next to him.

"You're welcome." Steve mumbled and now too knelt down to Ilea. She fluttery opened her eyes.

"Pietro? ... Steve? What the- ouch!" she grabbed her head where she felt a horrible pain.

"Pietro get her into the house, someone should take a look at her head. I'll deal with him." Steve told him and perusing kicked with his left foot at the man. He didn't move.

Pietro nodded and picked Ilea up.

As he came through the door into the living room, Wanda and Clint were sitting on the table.

"What happened?!" Wanda asked as she saw his concerned expression.

"An intruder, I think. He knocked Ilea out but Cap got him." he pointed with his head outside as he used both his arms to carry Ilea.

"We should get her to the medical station." Wanda suggested.

"I'm ok." Ilea groaned.

Pietro went to the table so she could sit down on a chair. Clint left quickly for the door to get some medical help.

Wanda knelt down before Ilea and put her hands soothing on her knees.

"How did this happen?"

"I... should have been more careful. The man had told me that Fury had sent him and I should follow him. I was suspicious so I told him that Fury should talk to me himself and wanted to go back to the building but... I shouldn't have turned my back towards him."

Ilea could see Pietro angrily clenching his fists as she spoke.

Clint came back through the door, followed by a woman from the medical station.

"Wait, where's Jamie?!" Ilea asked and stood up before the women could take a look at her head.

"I'm sure he is with Tony in one of his workrooms. I'll look after him." Clint replied soothing.

Ilea nodded and sat back down.

"It was a solid punch right at the back of her head. It will leave a small bruise but that's it. No permanent injuries."

The woman answered after she shortly examined her head.

Clint came into the room with Jamie on one of his hands.

"Are you ok Ilea?" Jamie asked as he reached her.

"Yeah. I'm ok as long as you are." Ilea told him as she pulled him onto her lap and hugged him tightly.

Wanda had to smile and glanced at Pietro. Those two were just as close as they were.

"I called Fury, he's coming in a few hours. I think it's best for you if you two stay with the twins for the rest of the day, or at least just Ilea. Maybe there are more intruders." Clint told them, still looking very concerned.  
"You two don't take your eyes of them. Got it?"

He waited till Pietro and Wanda nodded until he continued.

"Tony is already checking everyone here on the compound to see if there's anyone else with unauthorized access, but it seems more like it was an solo action. I'm gonna help Steve and try to get something out of the intruder."

He went to the door and left Ilea and Jamie alone with the twins.

Ilea sighed deeply and nuzzled her head into Jamie's locks.

He laughed and hugged Ilea back.  
"But I don't want to stay inside for the rest of the day, it's boooring!"

"We two can go play outside if you promise me to stay by my side, ok?" Wanda offered him.

"Ok!" Jamie exclaimed and jumped down from Ilea's lap.

Wanda had to smile at his dynamic and followed him outside, not without shortly glancing at Pietro and Ilea.

Ilea gazed after them until Pietro cleared his throat and pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Do you need something to drink?"

"That would be nice." she answered him.

The next second a glass of water stood right in front of her.

She took it with a smile. Even now Ilea still didn't get used to his speed.

With the other hand she slowly examined the spot where she was hit.  
She could already feel a bump and sighed. It wasn't that bad but her head still hurt like hell.

Ilea stood up to go to her bedroom.

"Wait, where are you going?" Pietro asked.

"I want to lay down a bit, just till the headache is gone." Ilea replied as she went through the door to the aisle with the bedrooms.

Ilea felt a rush of air and suddenly Pietro stood in front of her with crossed arms.

"But Clint told us not to let you out of sight."

"I'm just in my bedroom." Ilea sighed and brushed past him. The headache got worse as she talked and she really had no nerve to discuss with him now.

The next second Pietro stood in front of her again, right before her door.

"Sorry but the old man will kill me if something happens. And I really don't want to leave you alone right now."

That was actually really cute of him but all Ilea wanted now was her bed.

"Then you'll need to watch over me in my room." she replied annoyed and pushed him aside to go into her bedroom.

She kicked her shoes off and crawled into her bed.  
As Ilea looked back at the door she could still see Pietro standing in the door frame.

"Close the door on the way out when you finally made a decision."

He looked at her shortly, but then stepped in and closed the door.

Ilea watched him as he walked over to the chair and sat down with crossed arms.  
She sighed and pointed with her hand at the empty space next to her, since her bed was way too big for her.

"I'm going to stay here a little longer than just 5 minutes, so you can just lay down here as well 'cause I don't really think the chair is very comfortable."

As he didn't move Ilea rolled her eyes and laid back down again.  
Just as she closed her eyes she felt a sudden weight on the mattress right next to her.

She saw Pietro lying beside her with his arms crossed behind his head.

"You're right, it's way more comfortable." he told her and grinned.

She smiled and closed her eyes again. Feeling Pietro next to her actually made her feel safer and within a few seconds she fell asleep.

* * *

Ilea woke up to the sound of some muffled voices that came from the aisle as some agents walked past, but refused to open her eyes. She was a bit confused at first but remembered that she went for a nap earlier. It had to be late afternoon now.

Right now she just felt so secure and warm that she wanted to enjoy it for a little bit longer and almost dozed off again.

Suddenly she noticed that she wasn't alone on her bed. Ilea blinked slowly and realized that Pietro was right next to her, holding her close.  
Her head laid on one of his arms while the other one was tightly wrapped around her, pulling her body against his. Her face was directly on his chest and according to his slow but steady movement he was also asleep.

Ilea carefully moved her head so she could see his face.

He actually looked very peaceful when he was asleep. No one would think that he had a horrible past seeing him like that, but Ilea knew better.

As if he had felt her gaze Pietro slowly opened his eyes. He blinked a few times but then kept his eyes on her, still looking dozily.

Ilea had expected that he would instantly let go of her and apologize, but he didn't.

"Do you feel better?" he asked her with a raspy voice.

Mixed with his accent this was seriously the sexiest thing Ilea had ever heard.

"Yes, I actually do." she answered with a faint smile.

He nodded, but still kept his gaze in hers.

A soft knock on her door interrupted them. Wanda slowly opened the door and peaked her head in.

"Sorry to wake you both but Fury is here and he wants to speak all of us."

Ilea thought she saw a hidden grin on Wanda's face as she looked at them both lying on Ilea's bed, but Wanda had already left the room again.

With a sigh Pietro finally let go of Ilea and they both stood up.  
He stretched himself and Ilea heard some creaks that were surely not healthy.

They quickly went back into the living room where Tony, Steve, Clint, Wanda and Fury already sat at the table. Jamie dozed on a couch.

Luckily they were busy discussing something so none of them noticed that Pietro and Ilea came together into the room, both still looking ruffled from the sleep.

"There you are." Fury began as they both sat down next to them "Well, I won't sugarcoat it. It seems like some people found out about you. We're stepping up the security and every agent here will be verified. We still didn't get anything out the intruder but maybe we're going to get him to tell us who sent him and keep track.  
Anyway, Ilea it would be best if one of us is now around you all the time."

It was just now as Ilea understood the gravity of the situation. Worried she looked over to Jamie.

"As I said before, they'll be more after you than after him." Fury told her as he followed her gaze.

"But then what? Will they be after us forever? Do we have to hide here for the rest of our live?" Ilea asked furiously.

Fury leaned on the table and looked at her strictly.

"No you don't. And you know why? I'm sure there are also people who want to get Cap at any cost to examine him to recreate the serum that made him the super soldier. But you know why they don't come here and get him? Because they fear his power. Everyone outside knows they can't take it up with him. Your powers are even stronger than his. I was told you have started training them."

"But I haven't come that far yet." she interrupted him.

"That doesn't matter. As your powers are now they're still much stronger than Wanda's will ever be. For Gods sake, stop fighting it."

Ilea kept her mouth shut. It made her angry what Fury told her but there was something true about his words.

"Ok today has been a very long day." Steve sighed. "We'll continue this discussion tomorrow. As for now we can be happy that nothing worse happened."

Everyone nodded.

"Ok, I think we all need to come down a bit." Tony barged in "And I think everyone agrees if we should just get some dinner. Pizza?"

"Pizza." everyone answered simultaneously.

* * *

The table was empty except for Wanda as Ilea slurped into the kitchen the next morning. She did have some horrible nightmares that night and they still stuck in her head.

"Where are all the others?" she asked her.

"The intruder talked." Wanda replied and only now Ilea noticed the worried expression on her face.

Just at this moment Clint came into the room.

"We need to leave for another mission. The intruder told us the location from another HYDRA offspring. No laboratory this time but still very important and needed to be taken out. I'll take Cap, Tony and Pietro with me. Wanda, you stay here to watch over Ilea and Natasha will also come back in a few hours."

The only thing Ilea could do was firstly walk into the kitchen to get herself a coffee. After the first cup her brain started slowly to function and she had to think about what Clint just told them.

They may be away for over a week and they'll leave soon. Quickly Ilea emptied her second cup and walked together with Wanda to the other side of the building where the jets stood in the underground garage.  
They were already busy with putting their equipment into the jet they went off with, just Pietro was nowhere in sight.

"Ilea."

As she heard her name she twirled around. He stood in a corner, a bit apart from the others.

She could see that Pietro too already wore his gear, consisting of some fancy looking sportswear (Ilea wasn't able to avoid noticing how that of course emphasized his well built body.) He crossed his arms and intimated her to come over.

His eyes were fixed on her as she strolled over to him.

"I don't have a good feeling with leaving you alone here." he told her as she stood in front of him.

"But I'm not alone." she told him with a faint smile "Wanda is here. And the other agents."

"Please promise me you'll stay by her side, ok? Or else I'll stay here."

"Hey, I'm no fragile little girl." Ilea said a bit sulky "I don't need you around all the time to watch my ass."

Pietro had to laugh at her wording, but quickly turned serious again.

"I just don't want anything to happen to you because," he stopped reached his hand out to grab her cheek "you're really important to me."

Ilea instantly blushed and laid her hand on his.  
This would be the perfect moment, she thought. But Pietro didn't seem like he wanted to add anything.

"Ok, I'll promise." Ilea said to break the silence between them.  
"As long as you promise me to be careful. And come back safely."

He smirked, his hand still resting on her cheek.

"I'll come back for you. Don't worry."

"Hey you two over there! Stop flirting and Pietro move your ass over here we want to go!" Tony interrupted them suddenly.

Pietro laughed at that but Ilea could clearly see him blush. He took a last look at her, seeming like he wanted to say something, but then smiled at her and left in a blur for the others.

Ilea's gaze stayed on him until the tailgate closed and the jet set off, but Pietro didn't look back.

She just stayed at her place right there for a while, thinking.

Why didn't he just kiss her? Until right now she has been sure that he had a thing for her , _more_ than that according to all the flirting, but what if not? What if he just saw her as a best friend? Because she certainly liked him in another way.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts.  
Right now she had some way more serious problems than just the stupid feelings of hers.

Ilea turned on her heel and went back into the living room.

* * *

 **Well, it's slowly getting more exciting...**

 **Pls don't forget to review, it's really motivating to read all your comments and I appreciate every single one!**


	8. Nightmares

**Here comes the next update!**  
 **I wanted to make a little shoutout to the ones who commented on every chapter I posted so far, thank you so much you guys are amazing and very encouraging! And thanks to all the others who also commented my story, you guys rock!**

* * *

Just two days had passed since the team had left and Ilea was already done with everything.  
Not just the fact that she was almost never alone, due to Fury's assignment, but also the security around the whole compound had stepped up, having agents around every corner, watching every step she took. There haven't been any more incidents and Ilea already saw the safety measures as exaggerated.

"Please," she had almost begged Fury this morning "I need some privacy. I'm gonna go nuts if all these agents continue watching over me."

"It's for your own safety." Fury had replied her "But if it's such a burden to you I'll tell them to be more discreet. My only condition is that you'll stay near Wanda or Romanoff."

Ilea had gratefully accepted.  
She spent most of the time with Wanda anyway, since she encouraged her all the time to practice her powers.  
That's why she was already able to create easy structures of molecules.

But this afternoon she wanted to try something new.

"Making something dissolve?" Wanda asked curiously as Ilea explained it to her "But can't you already do that?"

"Not exactly." Ilea answered her and sat down on the grass next to Wanda.

"I normally just relocate them, make them appear somewhere else, so they're still there. But dissolving it means to transform every single atom into, erm, not nothing, that would create antimatter and I'm not sure if that would be a good thing, but something different, like oxygen for example."

Wanda nodded.  
"So how do you want to start?"

Ilea looked around. A bit far away from her stood a rather big boulder, presumably some part of the gardens decoration. No one would really miss it.

She closed her eyes in concentration and tried to embrace it with her mind. It was a strange feeling, something she has never done before.

Wanda made a surprised noise and Ilea instantly opened her eyes again.

The boulder was gone.  
Together with everything around it in a five-meter-radius, leaving a glaring hole in the ground.

"Woah," Wanda said stunned, "did you do this on purpose?"

Ilea's eyes were fixed on the hole. She did not know her powers could easily be this destructive.

"No." she whispered.

Wanda instantly laid a hand on her shoulder.  
"We're going to practice it a bit and you'll soon be in full control of it, don't worry."

Ilea nodded but she still stared at the hole.

"How about we go back inside? I saw that Hill brought some watermelon this morning." Wanda asked her and stood up.

Ilea followed her back in. She shook her head to free herself from her thoughts.  
Wanda was right, she surely just needed some practice.

"Jamie, I told you not to watch TV all the time! It's not good for your eyes." Wanda advised him as she saw Jamie sitting in front of the TV again.

"But that's my favorite show!" he replied.

"You say that to every TV show you like." Ilea chuckled and followed Wanda into he kitchen. She helped her to cut the melon into slices.

Of course Jamie rushed over to them as soon as she had put down the plate on the table.  
He finished his first slice faster than Ilea could look and Wanda giggled.  
Jamie grinned at them, one of the cutest grins one would ever see, and reached for another slice. He stopped right in the middle of his movement and grabbed his head.

"Ouch."

"What's wrong Jamie?" Ilea asked worried and instantly grabbed his face to examine him.

"My head hurts." he replied.

Ilea felt his head for fever but everything was perfectly normal.

"Maybe it's from all the TV watching." Wanda told her.

Ilea shrugged and let go of him, still worried.

"What the-" she heard Wanda say and turned around too. The plate was missing.

"Was that you?" Wanda asked her confused.

"No it wasn't me!" Ilea replied. She didn't even concentrate on anything.

"Are you sure?"

She was not. Wasn't she in control of her powers anymore? But this had never happened to her before.

"It doesn't matter." Wanda quickly said as she saw Ilea's panicked expression. "It sometimes also happens to me that I accidentally use my power without noticing. And Hill brought enough anyway."

Ilea replied with a faint smile but her thoughts still remained concerned.

She couldn't stop thinking about it for the rest of the day.

* * *

The very next day Fury introduced her to someone new.

"This is the head of our security, agent Hain."

The man who stood in front of Ilea in a black uniform was the definition of handsome, with dark hair, blue eyes, and a face that looked like Michelangelo had carved it himself. Of course she blushed as he shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you Ilea. I'm so sorry for the security problem that had happened, I assume full responsibility."

"How come I've never seen you here before?" was the only thing Ilea could ask, being too startled by his appearance.

"I work most of the time in my bureau, bossing around other agents and stuff." he answered her with a smile. "I also heard that you're not happy about all the agents watching over you. Also sorry for that, I already told them to not invade your privacy."

Ilea nodded.

"Well, I need to go back to work, but it was nice to meet you Ilea." he told her with a wink and left together with Fury through the door.

"I see you've met agent Handsome." Wanda chuckled as she came into the room right after them.

"Tsss," Ilea replied as she had pulled herself together again, "definitely not my type."

"So who is you type then?" Wanda wiggled her eyebrows at her.

Ilea was sure Wanda already knew how she felt about her brother, so she replied nothing, just stuck her tongue out at her.

"Ok, who's ready for a girls night?" they heard Natasha say who stepped into the room.

She had arrived yesterday, later than expected because of her mission, but now the three of them were most of the time together.

"Me!" Ilea and Wanda shouted instantly and laughed.

Of course they loved their boys but it was also relaxing to just be among women, who didn't constantly tried to outdo each other.

* * *

"Have you ever been in love?"

Ilea didn't exactly know what drove her to ask Natasha that question.

It was early afternoon but they still haven't left the living room since last night. It had gotten really late that evening and they had talked and watched movies until the next morning. Wanda was still asleep on one of the couches, her limbs stretched out like a see star. They were alone in the living room, the TV showed some random show.

Ilea and Natasha had actually spent a lot of time talking together, mostly over trivial things, but Ilea could feel the relationship growing between them two.

Natasha looked up from the TV, and Ilea could swear she saw some sadness flickering in her eyes. But as soon as she had noticed it, it was already gone.

"Yes I was.. still am."

Ilea was actually surprised by her answer. Natasha always seemed so insensitive when she was around other people, letting no one know what she actually thought.

But who could she mean? Was it someone from the Avenger team?  
She had no idea who.  
Steve and her seemed more like best friends and Clint had his own family. There was no way she could mean Tony. But who else?

"Is it one of the boys of the Avenger team?" Ilea asked careful, not actually expecting that she would answer her this time.

Natasha laughed dryly.

"Not exactly."

What should that mean? Ilea thought about maybe other boys she knew that worked at the headquarter. Or maybe she meant something whole differently...

"Oh, are... girls more your type? Not that it would be a problem."

This time Ilea actually caught Natasha off-guard.

"No that was not what I meant." she replied and actually began to laugh.

Ilea joined in.  
"Sorry, but that was my next assumption."

"No," Natasha finally continued after she stopped laughing, being serious again "he... left, after the battle in Sokovia."

"Oh." was the only thing Ilea could reply.

"But.. can't you just visit him? Or don't you know where he is right now?"

Natasha avoided her gaze and starred back at the TV.

"It's more complicated. Maybe I could find him, if I search for him, but I have the feeling that he wants to be left alone right now."

Ilea was quiet.  
She was sorry for Natasha but she was not going to tell her that, as she knew she wouldn't want any pity.

But who exactly did she mean?

One of the Avengers she knew who wasn't even on earth right now was Thor, but Tony had once told her that he had a girlfriend ("who of course is no better then Pepper.")

But who else was there?

Suddenly she remembered.  
There has been another man, the professor that turned into the green monster when he got angry. She had seen a few discussions about him on TV, shortly after New York had happened.

Ilea frowned.  
Back then the man didn't seem to be anything Ilea would ever expect to be Natasha's type. A quiet, smart professor, always trying to stay off a battle.

"Are you talking about the Hulk? Bennet or something like that."

Natasha made no attempt to show Ilea her feelings through her expression.

"Bruce Banner." she answered and a faint smile escaped her lips.

She looked back at Ilea as if she thought about if she could actually entrust herself to her.

"Yes." she sighed "It was Banner, still is."

They were quiet again.

Suddenly Ilea leaned over to Natasha and grabbed her hands.  
"I'm sure he'll come back sooner or later."

Natasha looked at her again with a half smile.

"I mean, who the heck would turn down such a gorgeous woman like you?"

She smiled at Ilea and squeezed her hand back.  
"Thank you.  
But what about you Ilea? You've spend a lot of time with Pietro lately."

Ilea automatically blushed as she mentioned his name. Natasha didn't even know about their daily rendezvous in the evening or the flirting, still she had recognized how close they were to each other.

Of course she also noticed her blush.

"Are you two seriously together? Why didn't you tell us?" she asked surprised.

"We're not together!" Ilea quickly defended herself.

"But that's not what it looks like." Natasha replied and admonishingly wiggled her finger in front of Ilea's face "I saw the way he's looking at you."

"And that would be?" Ilea asked, trying hard to sound not interested.

"Please," Natasha replied with a grin "He totally fell for you. He looks at you like you're his only reason breathe."

Ilea frowned. If it's really true what Natasha just told her, why didn't he just tell her? By now she always thought he was more that kind of person who would rather get rejected than keep something like that for himself. Maybe she was wrong about him. Maybe Natasha just misinterpreted his gaze.

"What are you musing about?" Natasha asked and got herself one of the beer bottles she brought at the tiny coffee table. Ilea couldn't understand how anyone could like the taste of beer. She had nothing against alcohol but preferred drinks that didn't taste like they contain it.

"I see your grin every time I mention his name, you can't fool me Ilea." Natasha told her before she took a gulp from the bottle.  
"What are you waiting for? Or do you want him to make the first step?"

Ilea sighed. It at no reason to hide her feelings from Natasha, she found it out anyway.

"Yeah, kinda."

Natasha chuckled. She did this only when she had some girly talk with her or Wanda, or when she laughed about something stupid one of the boys did.  
"Believe me, Pietro sure has a reason. Maybe he just waits for the right moment?"

There were already hundreds of 'right moments', Ilea thought upset.

But their conversation was interrupted by the short ring sound of Natasha's phone. She got it out of her pocket and read the message she got.

"News from the team." she told her "The mission has been successful and they'll be back this evening."

Ilea's mood automatically lit up.

"Sorry," she excused herself as she stood up from the couch "I actually really need to take shower, I'm surely looking like a mess right now."

"Go on, get all dressed up for your lover!" Natasha laughed.

She stuck her tongue at her before she left through the door.

* * *

Ilea could easily tell every single one of them was exhausted.

She watched them as they got off the jet in the underground garage as she waited behind a corner. She actually couldn't wait to welcome them back home but now she wasn't sure if she should better leave them alone for a while, at least until they got some rest.  
As she saw Pietro get off the jet she could feel herself tense up.

She missed him the most the whole week they've been gone.

He looked like he had to put up with the most, and his left arm was bandaged.

Pietro sometimes had those sad eyes.  
Ilea had recognized it the first time she had seen him. Most of the time he was like pure adrenaline, always wide awake, but sometimes when he was tired you could easily tell it by his eyes.  
But he still looked beautiful.

Of course he noticed her before she could turn around to leave.  
Ilea saw him mouthing her name.

With a smile she and came over to the others.

"Hey guys, welcome home!"

Pietro waited behind as she welcomed them.  
They quickly left for their rooms to get some rest.

"Hey." she said as she walked over to him.

He smiled at her, but it didn't quite reach his eyes.  
Without hesitation he pulled her into a hug.

"I missed you." Ilea whispered into his chest.

"I missed you too. I told you I'll come back for you." he replied.

She pulled back a bit so she could take a better look at him. If he did have some wounds they had healed by now, due to his abilities, but her gaze stayed at his bandaged arm.

"A bullet hit me." he explained as he followed her gaze "It's almost healed but one of the medics insisted to treat it."

He said it like it was no big thing for him, but it had actually bothered him more than he would ever admin.  
Since he almost died back in Sokovia, perforated by bullets, he had thought it would be the last time he was to slow for a bullet. But he was wrong. He already knew that the nightmares of the battle would haunt him again.

"Maybe you should get some rest." Ilea told him worried as she saw his expression.

"I think so." he replied tired.

Together they went upstairs to the bedrooms where Ilea wished him a good night and softly kissed him on the cheek, before she quickly left for the living room.

He touched his face where Ilea's lips had touched him and gazed back at her until the door had closed behind her. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever met, too perfect in every way to be real.

He sighed and went into his bedroom. He kicked off his shoes and took off his clothes except for his boxers before he dropped on his bed.  
With the thought of Ilea he fell asleep as soon as he had closed his eyes.

He would never be good enough for her.

* * *

 _Pietro was running along the streets of Sokovia, the sidewalks covered with dead people. They were on a mission, but he couldn't remember anymore who they were fighting. He didn't know where all the others where and he frantically searched around every corner. Where was his sister? And Ilea? He run and run until his feet hurt and he dropped on his knees. Suddenly he felt a horrible pain all over his body. He put one hand on his chest and as he looked at it again it was covered with blood. He looked down on his chest. He has been shot, multiple times and the blood drenched his shirt. He_ _panted and looked behind him. He could see Baron von Strucker, holding up a gun and laughing at him. The baron's gaze went up and an evil grin appeared on his face. Pietro's gaze turned around too and he could see Ilea, beautiful as ever, standing a few meters in front of him. He jumped up and wanted to run towards her, protect her from the bullets, but he could only move in slow-motion, as if his powers had reversed. Ilea's eyes were fixed on him as he heard the first gunshot._

With a gasp he opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was her.  
With messy hair and teary eyes looking down at him. As he had opened his eyes she had stopped shaking him, but her worried expression stayed.

"Pietro?" she said with a stifling voice "please, are you ok?"

As soon as he was fully awake he quickly sat up and run his fingers through his hair. He was drenched with sweat.

"Ilea? What are you doing here?"

"I... I was sleeping in my room but I woke up cause I could hear you screaming through the wall." she sat down on the edge of the bed "I was scared that you had an seizure or something like that."

"I'm ok." he answered and buried his face in his hands for a short moment.

Ilea just sat there quietly.

"You had a nightmare?"

He looked up at her.  
She only wore an oversized shirt as a nightgown that was just long enough to cover her butt. Her hair was messy but still she looked gorgeous.

"I get them too, you know." she continued "Nightmares about the laboratory."

He shook his head.  
"It wasn't about it."

Ilea hugged her legs tight to her.  
"About the battle? Where you almost died?"

He perked up his eyebrows.

"Your sister told me about it." she added.

He nodded but avoided her gaze.

Suddenly Ilea leaned over to him and pulled Pietro into a hug.

"This too will pass. You survived and for a reason." she said calmly.

He didn't respond.  
But just as ilea thought that she might just did something really embarrassing she felt how he wrapped his arms around her too and pulled her closer.

"Thank you." He mumbled into her hair.

Ilea didn't know how to respond. She was suddenly very aware that he was only wearing his shorts, feeling his strong muscles against her body.  
They stayed like this for a few minutes, until Ilea slowly freed herself from his embrace. She wanted to go off the bed but she felt Pietro grabbing her wrist, holding her back.

Surprised she turned around.

"Please," she heard Pietro whisper whit his raspy voice "stay."

Ilea could see his sad eyes again and decided to do him the favor.  
Pietro lifted up his blanket so she could crawl beneath it. As soon as she laid down Pietro wrapped his arms around her tightly and pulled her close to him. With a sigh he buried his face in her hair.  
After a moment's hesitation Ilea too wrapped her arms around him, her heart beating faster than ever.

He still smelled of sweat and himself, one of the things she liked most of him.  
Every person had an individual smell and his was like... the earth right after it had rained. Refreshing like the wind, old and new at the same time. Mixed with a bit of his aftershave.

After a few minutes she could recognize by the steady movement of his chest that he was already asleep again.

Calmly this time.

* * *

 **So I'll be busy for the next few days but I already started on the next chapter. (I'm planning for the big showdown to happen in the next chapter and oh god I'm already so sorry)**


	9. Gone

**Okay guys here comes the big showdown! (I'm so sorry I'm a horrible human)**

* * *

 _Currently listening to: James Bay - Stealing Cars_

 _All we need is a spark_  
 _A second chance, a lifeline_  
 _Waiting up in the dark_  
 _Holding up for a search light_

 _No I don't know why seasons change_  
 _Or how we fell so far_  
 _Before our hearts go up in flames_  
 _Let's go throwing stones_  
 _And stealing cars_

 _Let the heat of the sun_  
 _Reignite your memory_  
 _'Cause if we just turn and run_  
 _Let them fire the gun_

 _No I don't know why seasons change_  
 _How we get back to the start_  
 _Before our hearts go up in flames_  
 _Let's go throwing stones_  
 _And stealing cars_

 _Sirens and smoke remind us_  
 _Maybe the world won't find us_  
 _Fall to the Earth in red light 'til it's gone_  
 _Gone_

* * *

As she woke up in his arms Ilea knew it.  
And she didn't know why she only realized it by now.

She loved him.

It was the first thing Ilea thought as she opened her eyes, Pietro still holding her close.  
This night she actually did have no nightmare.

He was still asleep so Ilea thought she could use the time to have a close long look at his shirtless body.  
In the daylight she was now able to see all the scars from former wounds that were spread all across him.

Ilea could easily tell where the bullet from the very last mission has hit him.  
It was at his left arm, below the shoulder. It had already healed but the scar was still reddish.

But there were also some scars that didn't seem that old. She counted at least 6 scars that came from bullet holes and she automatically knew that they were from the big battle in Sokovia. Where he almost died.

She couldn't resist but carefully lay her fingers on them.

There was no way a normal human would've survived that. She could see him in front of her eyes. On the battleground, perforated with bullets and lying in his own blood, dying.  
No wonder he was haunted by nightmares.

"Are you crying?" she heard Pietro asking her with his raspy morning voice.

It was just now that she realized how a few teardrops had escaped her eyes.  
Ilea couldn't answer so she just shook her head, her hand still resting on his scars.

The other thing she could feel was his heartbeat, fast and steady.

"I'm sorry." she whispered.

"For what?"

"For what you have gone through."

Pietro laid his hand over hers and kissed her forehead.  
"Hey, I'm still alive so don't be sorry."

Ilea gulped back her tears, feeling kinda silly for them. She looked over at the alarm clock at his nightstand. It was already 9 am.

"We should get up." Ilea said and wanted to get off the bed. But Pietro still had his arms tightly around her.

"I don't want to." he said and looked into her eyes.

"Why?"

"I just," he stopped and thought of the right words. "Do you ever get this weird feeling, when you wake up and feel that something horrible is going to happen?"

Ilea looked back at him. She laid her hand on his cheek and looked at him seriously.

"I do. But that's just a feeling. It will eventually go away and you'll see that everything is perfectly fine."

He didn't quite believe her but nodded.

Ilea smiled at him and got up.

"I really need my coffee now." she said and stretched herself.

* * *

Before she got into the living room Ilea quickly went back into her own room to change for some normal clothes.

She smiled at Pietro as he handed her a cup of coffee as she came into the living room.

They were the only ones there, presumably because the rest was still recovering from the mission or busy.

While drinking she slowly strolled over to the big windows that showed the great compound. It was busier than normal days, with agents walking around everywhere. A bit far away she could see big black transporters coming and leaving through the closely-guarded gate.

"What's going on there?" Ilea asked Pietro curiously who now stood next to her.

He shrugged "Maybe they're still getting more agents for the security?"

Ilea turned her attention back to the activities outside while Pietro's gaze stayed on her. With the light shining on her silhouette she looked like an angel.  
He thought about if he might just should tell her.  
How much he loved, no, _adored_ her.

His thoughts were interrupted as something ran into him so that he almost fell over. Surprised he looked around.

"Got you!" Jamie laughed and clutched Pietro's legs.

Pietro laughed and picked him up.  
"Ok, you won this time." he told him and Jamie grinned proudly.

Ilea had to smile at them. A few weeks ago they started this little game where they both always tried to scare each other. So far it was about 2 to 20 for Pietro because he always saw him coming.

Ilea watched them both as Pietro tickled Jamie, making him laugh.  
It was almost like they were a little family. Almost.

* * *

At lunch they were all gathered together again: Tony, Natasha, Clint, Steve, Wanda, Pietro and Ilea.

Jamie dragged on Steve's shirt who sat with them on the dinner table.  
"You promised me you would show me how to play baseball when you are back." he told him eagerly.

"Jamie, they're still tired from their mission." Ilea told him "Let them settle down a bit."

"No, it's fine." Steve replied and smiled at Jamie, "We'll just throw a few balls, nothing big."

He stood up and left the table with an excited Jamie to go outside.  
Ilea watched them leave, then turned to Natasha who sat next to her.

"Do you know what's up with all those agents outside? I don't even know most of them. Where do they all come from?"

"Yeah, I recognized it too. Some assignments from agent Hain, for the security. I already wrote him a message that he should explain it to us but he hasn't shown up so far."

At this very moment the agent came through the door.

"Good day everyone." he introduced himself looking handsome as always.  
The others nodded at him.  
"I heard your confusion about the new assignments." he started "Well, it appeared that some of our agents on this headquarter have questionable access so I decided to substitute them and also recruit some more, for your own safety."

"Isn't this a bit exaggerated?" Tony asked frowning.

"It is not." Hain replied with a smug smile "You'll never know if one of them maybe was an enemy."

"But what if one of the new agents is?" Tony replied sternly.

"Please," Hain laughed "I picked them all myself, there is no way one of them has evil intentions."

Tony wanted to respond something, but Natasha shut him up with a glance.

"Thank you agent Hain for you efforts. If there's nothing else you can go back to work now." she told him.

"Thank you agent Romanoff. I actually also came because I wanted to have a quick talk with Ilea, is that possible?"

Suddenly everyone's eyes were on Ilea.

"Sure!" she replied quickly after she had realized that she was supposed to answer.

"Alone." Hain explained after she remained on her seat.

Natasha looked a bit suspicious at the agent.

"We'll go outside, you can still see us through the windows." Ilea told her and Natasha nodded.  
She couldn't see how Pietro clenched his fists under the table.

As they got outside she saw Steve and Jamie a bit further afar on the meadow. Jamie had a baseball glove and Steve was throwing a baseball towards him.

"That is actually what I wanted to ask you about." agent Hain started as he followed her gaze.

"What do you mean?" Ilea asked.

"Jamie was with you in the laboratory and I read in the documents that he was also experimented on. To see if they could transfer your powers."

Ilea nodded confused. Where was he going with this?

"But they weren't successful?" Hain asked further.

If he had read the documents he should already know that, Ilea thought.

"No it wasn't."

"Are you sure?"

Ilea frowned. Of course she was sure. She would have recognized it when there was anything strange about Jamie. Or not?

"Are you keeping important information from us Ilea?" Hain continued.

"No I'm not." Ilea replied sternly "He has no powers. It is only me who does."

Hain nodded at her answer, but his expression showed her that she didn't quite believe it.  
"I'm sorry I bought you in an uncomfortable situation." he continued and showed her his handsome smile again.

"But there was a second think I'd like to ask you. Do you maybe have the time to meet me this evening?"

Was he asking her for a _date_? Maybe he thought that she had fallen for him because he was oh so handsome, but he was wrong, Ilea thought.  
"I'm sorry to tell you that," she replied, "but I'm not really interested in you."

That seemed to throw him off the track.  
"Oh, I mean, sure, If you don't want to." he replied a bit surprised.

But then he pulled himself together again.  
"Well, that's it. I hope I'll see you again soon." he told her smiling.

He grabbed her hand and placed a soft kiss on it. Ilea automatically blushed.

"Um, sure." she stammered.

"I think it's better if you leave now." Ilea suddenly heard a voice.

She turned around and saw Pietro standing behind them, looking very pissed.

"I was just about to leave." Hain replied without breaking his smile and went back to the building.

"This man is an asshole." Pietro said angrily and walked past Ilea, towards his jogging route. He needed to calm down a bit.

"Wait!" Ilea called after him but he didn't turn around. She followed him and he stayed on normal speed, still walking really fast.

"Why are you angry?" she asked him upset and nearly ran after him now.

He ignored her again and continued walking.

"Just because you're jealous of agent Hain?!"

Pietro suddenly stopped so she straightly ran into him. She cursed and nearly fell backwards.

"I'm not jealous!" he defended himself and turned around.

"Well then why do you have something against it if he likes me?!"

"Because," he hissed "I can easily tell that he is an asshole. You deserve better. Someone else who treats you better."

Ilea was _really_ angry now. Pietro and his frickin stubbornness.  
She didn't even realize what she said before she actually spoke the words.

"I don't want anyone else! I want you!"

Pietro starred at her. She had finally said it.

"No you don't!" he replied, with hurt in his voice.  
"I'm not good enough for you!" he nearly shouted at her now "I'll never be."

"How can you say that?!" she shouted back "That's not a thing you decide!"

"Ilea." his voice lost the angry touch but it was still serious "You deserve something better than me. You're so beautiful, so... pure. There is no way I'll ever deserve someone like you. Look at me. I'm a mess.  
I'm experiment, all by my fault, and I'm still fighting with the consequences. I could die on the battlefield every time I leave for a mission. I already did damn it! And the nightmares still haunt me almost every day! I'm not good for you!"

"This is not true!" Ilea replied fierce.

She stepped towards him until his face was just inches away.

"Pietro." she said, her voice shaking, and laid a hand on his cheek so he was forced to look down at her "I love you. I don't want anyone else but you."

Pietro was quiet, his eyes still locked in hers.  
"What are you doing to me." he whispered.

Whit a single move Pietro leaned down to her.

Ilea didn't expect it so when their lips connected she quickly shut her eyes. His lips were soft on hers and after a moment's hesitation she kissed him back even harder and wrapped her arms around his neck. Pietro's hands wandered down her back.

They broke the kiss as they both got out of breath and Pietro leaned his forehead against hers.

"Ilea," he told her "I love you more than I thought I could ever love someone. But I'm not good for you."

"You are." Ilea replied "You're the best thing that happened to me since you had rescued me from the lab."

Pietro wrapped his arms around her and held her close.  
"That is exactly what I can say about you." he told her and kissed her hair.

A slow clap interrupted them.

They both turned around surprised.  
A few meters behind them stood agent Hain.

"That is so touching." he laughed "two experiments being in love with each other. Really, you're moving me to tears."

He still smiled but it was distorted, looking like a grimace.

"What is going on?" They heard Natasha's voice, who came towards them, followed by Tony, Clint and Wanda. Steve was also coming towards them, he had told Jamie to go back in.

"Ah, the Avengers." Hain said as they gathered around him. "Coming to the rescue. You're really pathetic. None of you are not even real humans anymore. Just ugly experiments or killers." his voice was getting more and more mad.

"What is your problem, Hain?!" Clint asked him.

" _My problem_?! My problem is her!" Hain shouted now and pointed at Ilea "Can't you see it?! It's like everyone is blind except me! _She can control matter! She is literally a god, able to enslave the whole mankind with her powers!_ "

He sounded totally insane by now.

"I think you need a timeout." Steve told him sternly.

Hain began to laugh.

"You think I'm the only one who thinks like that?!"

He quickly moved his hand to his earphone and shouted some commands.  
Suddenly they were surrounded by agents. Everywhere on the compound it was teeming with them, most of them heavenly armed. Ilea looked around, but not a single face looked familiar.

Natasha's gaze wandered over the hundreds of people, measuring up their chances.  
None of the Avengers was prepared for a battle.

"You have no chance against all of us." Hain told them with an evil grin. "If you capitulate immediately, I'll just take Ilea and Jamie with me, and eventually let you live."

He pulled his gun.  
But before the others could even look Pietro had punched him in the face, making him fall into the grass unconscious.

That was like the start signal for the others. The battle got off.

Wanda immediately took down every agent near them, Natasha and Clint quickly took weapons from them. New agents followed quickly. Tony had called his metal armor and instantly began to fight as the suit had reached him. Pietro raced in a blur around the compound, taking down every agent on his way.

"Ilea, you need to go somewhere safe." Steve told her as she still stood there in shock. It happened all way too fast for her and she has never been on a battlefield.

"Ilea!" Steve shouted at her.

She pulled herself together. "There is no safe place!"

"Watch out!" she suddenly shouted as Ilea saw an agent with a gun turning up behind Steve. But as he had turned around Ilea used her powers to make the man disappear. Ilea hadn't even thought about what she did, she just wanted to save Steve.

The realization that she just killed a man hit her harder than she expected and she could feel her knees give in.

Steve caught her and helped her to stand. Ilea pressed her hand against her mouth and stared at the place where the man just stood.

"Ilea, he would have killed me otherwise!" Steve told her "You did nothing wrong."

Ilea gulped back her tears and nodded. There was no time for crying now. Or else they would all die.  
The others have already taken down many agents but more and more followed.

"Cap!" Ilea heard Pietro's voice and saw him as he tossed his shield towards Steve. "You're useless without this thing."

"Thanks. Listen, you need to get Ilea inside and-"

"They're also inside the headquarter, our own agents are fighting them." Pietro replied.

They were interrupted by two agents running toward them. Steve knocked one down with his shield while Pietro took down the other one.

Ilea stopped for a moment. If they're also in the headquarter that would mean…  
"Jamie! He was inside!" Ilea shouted in realization.

Pietro cursed in another language and dashed forwards, back into the headquarter.

Ilea ran towards the building too, way slower than him. She saw in the corner of her eye how an agent pointed his gun towards her. With a single thought she made him dissolve, together with a few others. Adrenalin rushed through her veins and she didn't care anymore about killing them, as long as they were able to harm Jamie.

* * *

Pietro had run through the whole building without finding a trace of Jamie. He went back outside. The meadow was full of people, most of them lying on the grass. Only a few agents were left and it looked like the Avengers were about to win. He could see his sister fighting a few meters away from him. Ilea was nowhere in sight.

"Jamie!" he suddenly heard her scream. He saw Ilea who was actually not far away from him. She was running towards someone. He followed her gaze and saw the boy who was held back by some agent who tried to drag him away. But then Caps shield knocked the man down who instantly let go of Jamie. The boy ran towards Ilea as soon as he had seen her.

He shouldn't have.

Suddenly it was like everything had stopped.

Pietro heard a single gunshot.

It was impossible that he had heard it as the air was filled with loud noises of the battle but he did anyways.  
He saw how a few meters behind Ilea stood agent Hain. His face was covered with blood but an evil grin laid on it. And a gun in his hand.  
He had shot Ilea, Pietro thought immediately.

But it wasn't her who got down.

Just before Ilea had reached him, Jamie fell down to the ground, motionless.  
A blood stain spread out on his small chest.

It was like everyone on the battlefield has stopped moving, even breathing and looked at them.

As Ilea had reached Jamie she fell to her knees, her face expressionless.

Pietro saw how she placed a hand on his neck to check his pulse and as she didn't move he knew it.

Everyone knew it.  
Jamie was dead.

After a moment Ilea slowly laid her shaking hands on Jamie's cheeks and gave him a kiss on his forehead. Her tears dropped on his pale face.

Then she lifted her head upon the sky, a small sob escaping her lips.

Pietro whispered her name, but he couldn't move.

Ilea covered her face with her hands and started to cry, her screams filling the air. She sounded like a wounded animal, begging for someone to end the pain.  
Pietro wanted to run towards her, but it was impossible for him to move.

Suddenly there was a tension in the air. It took his breath away.

"Pietro!" Steve called "Get away from her!"

Ilea lost her control.

Pietro could see it in slow motion. The grass around her lost the color, the air turned into a strange shade of turquoise.

He felt how Steve grabbed his arm and dragged him away, but he still couldn't take his eyes of her.

Suddenly the earth began to shake. The ground around Ilea broke up and shattered in all directions. The air turned into pure acid.  
Hain, who was only a few meters away from her, stood no chance. He was dead within seconds.

"Ilea!" Steve shouted at her since Pietro seemed to have lost his voice.  
"Please stop this!"

But she didn't seem to hear. Everything around her tor apart and that circle of destruction spread out further to the others, killing everything in it's radius.

"Ilea it wont bring him back!" Steve shouted as a last try.

Suddenly everything stopped. A dead silence filled the air.

Ilea slowly put her hands down. Her empty gaze turned to Pietro.  
He could see her mouth the words "I'm sorry."

Then she began to dissipate.

She suddenly seemed to be made of dust, which was blow away by a light breeze.

Pietro shouted her name and began to run towards her.

But this time he wasn't fast enough.  
And before he reached her,

she was gone.

* * *

 **Oh god what have I done.**

 **I just killed them both.**

 **...**

 **Or did I?**

 **[Insert evil laugh]**


	10. Not expecting

**It was so entertaining to read your reactions to the last chapter! Ya'll didn't see that coming huh? ;D (Even though I hinted a few things in the past chapters) Well, here you go!**

* * *

Her head hurt.

That was the first thing Ilea recognized.  
The second thing was that she was lying on her back. She slowly moved her fingers, feeling soft grass beneath them.  
Ilea opened her eyes a bit. All she could see was a crystal blue sky with some clouds.

Am I in heaven? she asked herself.

The bright sunlight burned in her eyes and she closed them again.  
She was exhausted.  
The memories of the past hour slowly crept back into her head.

Jamie was dead.

She didn't cry. She felt like she lost all her emotions when she had vanished, leaving just a dull pain in her heart.

Actually Ilea hasn't thought that she would survive it.

It's not like she wanted to kill herself,  
but as she fell to her knees next to Jamie's dead body it was like she just didn't care anymore.  
All she wanted to do at that moment was to leave.

Far, far away.

A warm breeze swept over her and she once again wondered if she was dead.  
Ilea had always thought it would kill her if she dissolved herself. Maybe she wasn't dead but she felt like she was about to die, because all of her strength had left her.

And she was Ok with that.  
She was too tired.

One last time Ilea opened her eyes to see the blue sky.  
A single tear ran along her face. She closed them again, hoping that Jamie would welcome her wherever he was now as soon as she opened them again.

* * *

Bruce Banner was in his laboratory.  
Most of the time he spent his days working as a doctor in the small town. But right now he experimented on a cure for a disease of one of his patients. It was a young boy and he couldn't quite figure out what damaged his body.

Suddenly he hard a loud beep sound coming from one of his computers. He rolled his desk chair over to the other desktop.

"Strange." he mumbled as he observed the statistics shown on the monitor.

He had some satellites outside the lab, which recognized even the smallest gamma radiation. It seemed like something radioactive suddenly appeared a few kilometers away from his house.  
He checked again for maybe a mistake in his system but there wasn't any.

Now being curious he grabbed one of his portable satellites and stepped outside.

For everyone's safety his house with his lab were far away from the next town, with nothing but a great meadow around him.  
Bruce lifted the satellite with one hand and the small display attached to it in the other, following the faint but obvious radiation.  
It was closer than he had first thought and after he walked for a few minutes the needle on the display deflected. He slowly put it down and searched for the source.  
He saw something big laying in the grass a few steps ahead.  
As he approached it he could see that it wasn't something, but a human. A girl to be specific. She must be around 20 years old, he thought. But she didn't look like someone from here.

"Hey!" He said and kneeled down next to her. As she didn't show any reaction he shook her shoulder. Nothing. He checked for her pulse. She was still alive but the pulse was quite weak. She had to be unconscious. He looked back at his small display, which obviously told him that there were some radioactive substances around her. Bruce didn't worry that those could damage him, since he actually was a gamma radiation experiment, but he worried that those could actually hurt her.

He decided that it would be the best if he would take her back to his house. He shoved the satellite back into his bag and carefully picked her up. After he took a few steps his satellite still made its warning sound. Bruce stopped in confusion.  
That could only mean that those radiations came from her. He continued his way back to his house, a bit faster this time.

* * *

It wasn't Jamie who she saw when Ilea opened her eyes again.

At first she only saw a wooden ceiling. Then she recognized a face hovering over her.

"Finally you're awake." The man said with a friendly smile. He had to be in his late thirties and had a kind face. His hair had a few grey streaks and so did his stubbly beard.

"Am I dead?" Ilea whispered.

"No, gladly you're alive." he answered with a frown.

Ilea closed her eyes again.  
She didn't expect that wave of relief that hit her now and she felt her tears running down her face. Ilea had thought that she would be grateful to see Jamie again but the truth of the matter was that she has been afraid.  
Afraid of dying and of leaving this world.

"Did you want to die?" the man asked softly after a short break and handed her a tissue.

"I don't know." Ilea answered truthfully. Her voice sounded hollow.  
Did she want to?

"Come, sit up. I got you something to eat and drink. You slept for a whole day." the man told her kindly.

Ilea slowly sat up and looked around. She was in a small place with wooden walls. She sat on a sofa which seemed to be in the living room. To the right she could see a small kitchen.  
Ilea hasn't realized how thirsty she was until now so she thankfully took the water bottle the man handed her.

"I'm Bruce by the way."

She felt a small pain in her heart at his words. He wasn't the first one who introduced himself to her like this, but she tried to push it to the back of her mind. His name and his face where somehow familiar to her but she couldn't remember how.

"Ilea." she replied quietly after she emptied the bottle and took one of the sandwiches from the plate he then handed her. Maybe she should have been more suspicious about strangers but right now she didn't really care and she somehow felt like she could trust him.

Slowly a bit of her strength came back but her mind still felt dull. She looked out of the window next to her and saw nothing but a great meadow. The sun stood low and it would get dark in a few minutes.

"Where am I?" she finally asked, her voice still sounding emotionless.

"The next big city would be Skeldon." Bruce answered.

"Guyana, South America." he added after he saw her confused look.

Ilea nodded and looked back out the window.  
They were quiet for a few minutes.

"How did you get here?" he finally asked.

Ilea looked at him, trying to weigh up how far she could tell him about her.  
"You wouldn't understand. It's very… complicated." she answered so quiet that she didn't think he would hear her.

He chuckled.  
"I'm actually a doctor of science. If you want you can try to explain it to me."

"Maybe." she replied.

He seemed to realize that she didn't want to talk right now.

Meanwhile the sun set and it got darker. She already felt tired again.

"Just one more thing." Bruce said while he walked over to the light switch to turn it on. He came back and pointed at a kind of mini-satellite that laid on the table next to her.

"The reason I found you is because you, um, I don't know how to explain that but you seem the emit small gamma radiation. Do you know why?"

Ilea thought about it. She was sure that happened when she lost her control. It used to happen when she worked on improving her powers and accidentally turned matter into radioactive stuff. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the source. Some parts of her clothing really seemed to emit radiation. She concentrated again and fixed those parts, turning them normal again.  
It surprised her how easy it was now. As if she had always been in full control of her powers.

"Did it stop?" she asked Bruce.

He took a look at the small display attached to the satellite and frowned.  
"It did indeed." he answered astonished. He studied her for a short while but didn't ask more questions.

"Maybe it's better if you go to sleep now, you still look exhausted. We'll sort out everything else tomorrow." Bruce stated. He went to a small cupboard and got a blanket and a pillow.

"You can stay here as long as you need to. But just if you're okay with that." he added.

Ilea nodded, taking the bedding from him.

"My room is over there," he pointed at a door next to the kitchen, "just knock when you need something."

"Thank you." Ilea mumbled.

"No problem." he replied softly. Then he switched off the lights and went to his room.

Ilea just sat there for a while. She was too tired too wonder why this man was so kind or plan what she should do next.  
All she really wanted to do was to sleep.  
She laid back down and pulled the blanket up to her nose. She had thought she would fall asleep as soon as she had closed her eyes but her thoughts kept her awake.

The image of Jamie, laying dead in the grass, seemed to have been burned into her mind.  
She tried not to cry because she knew if she started now, she would never stop.

It was not just the grief, but the whole time since she had opened her eyes again she had tried to block out.

Everyone and everything except for Jamie.

She maybe would have been successful with it but now that she was alone again she couldn't help but think about the others.

Pietro.  
Ilea could see his face in front of her eyes. Did he think she was dead? Was he sad about it? Did he feel guilty? And what about the others? Ilea hoped that she didn't hurt them when she had lost control. Were they even searching for her? Could she ever go back to them?

Ilea didn't recognize that she was crying until she actually started sobbing. She pressed the blanket over her mouth so Bruce wouldn't hear her.

The pain in her heart was so heavy that she curled up into a ball. She loved them so much but she didn't know if she could ever bear it to go back. She missed Pietro and wished he was there for her now, holding her in his arms. She was craving for it.  
How could she ever go back?  
Everything would remind her of Jamie. The moment he died it was like someone had ripped her heart out of her chest, leaving her to die.

Quietly Ilea cried herself to sleep.

* * *

It was all just a bad dream, Pietro thought relieved as he woke up in his bed.

He felt a pain on the back of his head as he sat up and cursed. Where did it come from?  
The door to his room opened and Wanda stepped in.

"Oh god you're awake!" she stormed over to him and hugged him tightly.

"Wanda, what-"

"You can't remember? One of the agents knocked you down after, after Ilea-" her voice cracked and she pressed her hand against her mouth. She tried to blink away the upcoming tears.

And that's how he knew it. That it hasn't been a dream.

"Ilea," he whispered "Jamie..."

Wanda looked at him with tears in her eyes and slightly shook her head.

It was like his world fell apart.  
Wanda saw his expression and tightened her embrace.

"I'm so sorry." she mumbled between sobs "I'm so, so sorry."

Pietro felt the tears running down his cheeks but everything else felt numb.  
It couldn't be. She can't be dead. She was too strong.

"But," he said dryly "how do you know Ilea is dead?" speaking it out loud hurt even more. It made it more true.

"She had dissolved herself, Pietro." Wanda replied confused.

"But what if she just re-"

"Relocated herself?" his sister interrupted him "We couldn't find her anywhere. And even if she did, Ilea had told us that it's impossible for her to relocate humans... alive." Wanda stopped and fought with her tears again.  
She didn't want to do this to her brother but it's better if he doesn't build up false hopes.  
"Pietro." she swallowed hard "I loved them too. But they're gone." at the last words tears filled her eyes again but she couldn't hold them back this time.

The twins just sat there, holding each other until there were no more tears left.

"Where is Jamie?" Pietro asked after a while. He had to look at his face one more time. He had loved him like a brother.

"The medics had brought him to the medical station. Dr. Cho tried everything, really, but it was too late." Wanda played with the rings on her fingers "But are you sure you want to-"

"I am sure." he answered sternly.

Wanda nodded and together they went back into the aisle.  
As they reached the medical station they stopped in front of the door where Jamie laid.

"Wanda, Pietro." they heard a voice calling them and turned around.

Vision walked strictly towards them. As Wanda saw him she stormed towards him, not caring about her brother.

"I'm sorry Wanda." Vision told her as he hugged her tightly "I should have been there. I could have-"

"It wasn't your fault." Wanda replied and laid her hand on his cheek.

Vision looked into her eyes until he slowly let go of her and walked towards Pietro. He laid a hand on his shoulder.  
"I'm really sorry. I know you loved them as much as the others did."

Pietro avoided his gaze but nodded. Maybe the fight would've ended differently when Vision had been there. But it won't help anyone thinking about what could have been now.

Just as Pietro laid his hand on the doorhandle he heard some alarming sounds coming from inside the room. He quickly opened the door. On the single bed laid Jamie, paler than ever. His shirt had been torn open when they had tried to revitalize him, but you could still see the blood stains.

The sounds he heard came from different machines that were attached to the boy. Right after Wanda and Vision a few medics in white coats came into the room.

"What is wrong Dr. Cho?!" Wanda asked as she saw her.

"The monitors are showing some vital signs. But thats impossible." she quickly answered and turned towards Jamie, placing her stethoscope on his small chest.  
"No normal human could survive being brain-dead for a whole day."

"Are you telling me that-"

But Wanda was interrupted by a surprised noise coming from the doctor. The noises of the machines had stopped. But not because they were turned-off, but because they were... gone.

"What is happening here?!" Wanda asked panicked as other things around them started to dissipate too.

"Ilea?" Pietro asked shocked.

"No," Vision replied and stepped closer to Jamie, who still laid motionless on his bed "It's not Ilea who does this."  
He laid a hand on his head and the dissolving stopped instantly.  
"It's Jamie."

And with this Jamie suddenly took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

* * *

 **Well, well, who would have expected that? (I hinted it multiple times so maybe you guys actually did). Next week will be busy but I'm trying to update soon. Don't forget to review! :)**


	11. Impossible

**Ok first of all I'm so sorry that I couldn't update earlier but I really had no time . I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

It was already late in the morning when Ilea woke up.  
Her mouth felt dry and it was hard for her to swallow.

She didn't even know when she had fallen asleep.  
Maybe when at least there had been no more tears she could cry.  
But it hasn't been a really restful sleep, as she felt like even in her dreams she had grieved. She actually had hoped for the feeling one always get's after crying, that maybe everything is going to be alright again, but it stayed out.

"Oh sorry, did I wake you up?" Ilea heard Bruce's voice.

She sat up and looked at the table next to the kitchen. Bruce was busy packing his bag with some things that looked like medical stuff.

"Is something wrong?" she asked and slowly stood up. The sofa wasn't as comfortable as her bed and she could already feel tensions in her arms and neck.

"Well," Bruce replied and stuffed a few more things in the bag "I'm working as a doctor for the small town Sengo that is 2 miles away from here. One of my patients has some illness I couldn't cure so far. A few minutes ago I got the message that his condition got worse."

He closed his bag and put it on one shoulder.

"I hope it's Ok if I let you alone here, I'll be back in an hour."

Ilea could feel her body tense up.

No, she couldn't be left alone with her thoughts right now. They would drown her.

"Please, can I come with you?" she asked, trying not to sound desperate.

Bruce opened his mouth to answer but then stopped as he saw her expression.  
He sighed and scratched the back of his head.

"Fine, just grab yourself some breakfast and then we'll go."

* * *

The twins were back in front of Jamie's room in the medical station.

They had needed a few hours to get over the shock.  
Jamie was alive.

After he suddenly came back to life yesterday, Dr. Cho had thrown them out the room as his vital signs were very weak and she had to take care of him. They had waited at least an hour before Dr. Cho did come out of the room.  
"He is still very weak but he should make it. I gave him something to sleep and we'll see about everything else tomorrow."

"But how can he still be alive?!" Wanda had asked.

But Dr. Cho had just shook her head and said "Tomorrow."

The Doctor had been busy in the medical station the last two days, taking care about the other injured agents and hasn't got a wink of sleep.

But now she looked better again and the dark circles under her eyes had vanished.  
Something you couldn't say about Pietro. Last night his thoughts had kept him awake. Not just the question about how Jamie had survived, but he had thought over and over about what he should tell Jamie when he woke up.  
He couldn't say it.

How could he bear to tell the little boy that Ilea was dead?

At the thought of her the grief had come back, hit him like a wall. It took his breath away.

He had lost both his parents, almost lost his sister on their time in the lab and saw countless other people die on the battlefield. He even died himself. He was almost used to see men die and lose people he was close to.

But he had loved Ilea.  
More than he had ever loved a girl.

His sister was something whole different and he loved her too, but on another basis.

Ilea had been the first girl he could entrust himself to. Since the first moment he saw her all he ever wanted to do was to hold her in his arms for the rest of his life.

At least he had been able to tell her how much he loved her, even though he regretted now that he didn't say it earlier.

He had even dared to think about a future together with her, but now everything seemed hopeless and his future was something Pietro didn't want to think about. She was gone. He had to accept that.

But there was something else that had kept him up. Maybe he could have been able to save her? The more he thought about it, he was sure it had been his fault. He had stood the nearest to her and could have easily reached her before she vanished.  
That guilt felt like a heavy weight on his chest that made it hard for him to breathe.

"He woke up and his vital signs are great. But he doesn't have much memory of the last two days." Dr. Cho's voice snapped Pietro out of his thoughts.

She had opened the door and told them with a wave of her hand to follow her inside. The other's had wanted to visit Jamie too as they were all glad that at least he was still alive, but Dr. Cho had told them that it would be a bit too much for Jamie.

As they went into the room they saw Jamie sitting on the bed, looking like nothing bad ever happened to him.

His little face lit up as he saw them.

"Pietro! Wanda!" he called and stretched his arms out towards them.

Wanda tried to smile for him as she stepped closer to hug him tightly. But she quickly let go of him as the tears filled her eyes again. She didn't want him to see it.

Pietro sat down next to Jamie and the boy wrapped his small arms around him to hug him tightly.

"Hey Jamie." Pietro said with a smile. Jamie's world was still alright. He wished he could let him keep it for a while so at least he wouldn't have to be sad. But Pietro knew that they couldn't do that to him.

Jamie grinned at him as he always did. But his smile faded as he saw Pietro's face.

"Are you sad?" the boy asked him.

"No," he replied and ruffled through Jamie's hair. The way Ilea always did. "I'm happy you're alright."

The boy nodded and looked back at the door as if he was expecting something.  
"Where is Ilea?" he asked after nothing happened.

Pietro had feared that question and even now he wasn't able to answer.

Wanda swallowed hard and sat down next to Jamie too.

It was the best if they told him now. It would be cruel to leave him believing that Ilea would come into the room every second.

"Jamie," Wanda tried to blink the tears away "I'm sorry but Ilea is... gone."

Jamie blinked at her confused.  
"What do you mean with gone? Where did she go?"

The innocence in his voice broke her heart.  
"Jamie, Ilea is-"

"Somewhere were we can't find her." Dr. Cho interrupted her.

The twins looked at her confused.

"Dr. Cho," Wanda told her "I think it would be the best if we tell him now that-"

But the doctor lifted her hand to interrupt her.  
"I need to speak both of you for a minute."

The twins looked at each other, but then followed the doctor out the room.

"We can't lead him to believe that Ilea is still alive." Wanda said fierce as soon as they had closed the door.

"We don't know that yet." Dr. Cho replied calmly.

"What do you mean?" Pietro asked "She had told us that she can't relocate humans alive." He sounded angrier than he intended to and he felt his sisters laying a hand on his arm. He didn't want Jamie to raise false hopes.

"But Ilea was no normal human."

As Dr. Cho saw their confused gaze she sighed and rubbed her temple with one hand.  
"Ok listen. I don't want to raise any false hopes too. But there is a small chance that she is still alive."

She looked through the small window in the door at Jamie's bed.  
"As we could all see yesterday it seems that Jamie has developed some powers, presumably an effect of the experiment he had gone through in the laboratory. As he is still very young it probably took a long time for his body to handle the transformations and the powers didn't show until now. Yesterday I gave him something that will suppress these powers until he fully recovers.  
However, those abilities are also the reason why Jamie is still alive. It seems that he is not just able to manipulate the matter, like Ilea did, but his cells are regenerating at an extreme speed, making it impossible for him to die. Not the 'immortal' way, he'll still grow up normally as that is the natural progress for a cell, but he can't die."

"And… you think that…" Wanda stammered startled "that Ilea has the same power?"

"It's possible." Dr. Cho replied "But as I said, I don't want to raise false hopes. Maybe that power was just a mutation of the experiments they did to Jamie. But _if_ Ilea has them too, it could be possible that she can relocate herself without dying."

* * *

The short ride in the car was quiet.

Ilea knew that Bruce expected an explanation from her and she really owed him one. But she still couldn't speak about it. Not yet.  
But Bruce seemed patient, something Ilea was very thankful for.

After a few minutes they stopped at a house in a small town. It looked very poor and shabby, just like the other houses.

Bruce followed her gaze.  
"We're in one of the poorest parts of the state. No one here can actually afford a doctor. That's why I'm here."

Ilea nodded. By now she already knew that Bruce had a kind heart, she hadn't expected anything different.

She followed him to the doorstep and Bruce knocked.

A woman, dressed in some kind of colorful traditional dress opened the door. She was tall, a bit chubby and had light brown skin, like the most people she had seen on their ride there. She was old, her hair already showed grey streaks.

"Oh, I'm so glad you came!" she said in a deep voice. She spoke English, as it was the official language but with a heavy accent so that Ilea didn't understand her first.

"Good morning Miss Rendja." Bruce greeted her "I hope you don't mind I brought my… my assistant with me."

"No problem! Come in, come in!" she took a step aside so they'll could both get inside.

The air was heavy and not much light shone through the ground-glass windows.  
The women guided them to a small room. At first Ilea couldn't see much. But them Ms. Rendja went to a window and drew the heavy curtains.

In the room was just a single bed, presumably because they couldn't afford anything else, with a young boy lying on it. Bruce stepped to his bed and Ilea followed him.

As they stood next to him he opened his eyes.

Ilea could feel a sting in her hart. The boy reminded her too much of Jamie.  
He was about the same age, had the same brown locks and the same bright eyes.

Ilea couldn't bear his sight anymore and took a few steps back.

Bruce didn't recognized it and got a stethoscope out of his bag to place it on the chest of the boy who was only wearing shorts.

Only now Ilea saw that something was wrong with the boy.  
He had the same skin like his mother, but his looked too pale, kinda ill. Sweat was all over his body and he barely breathed, his chest only moving minimally.

"I've never seen you before here." The woman told Ilea as they both watched Banner do his work.

"I'm…new. I, erm, had to leave and landed here." Ilea replied.

The woman nodded knowingly.  
"Because you lost someone."

Surprised Ilea turned to the women.

She just smiled, her gaze still fixed on her son.

"I saw your eyes. Those are very, very sad eyes."

Ilea couldn't say anything so she just sighed.

"You know," the woman continued "I think the hardest part of losing someone is to live without them. Always trying to fill the void, the emptiness that's left inside your heart when they go."

"I couldn't say goodbye." Ilea replied dryly "Or how much I loved him. I wish I had told him that more often."

The woman now turned her gaze towards Ilea.  
"You're still so very young. Let me tell you something: You are going to lose people in your life. And realize that no matter how much you loved them and told the so, it will never feel like it was enough. But it was." with those words she turned away again.

Ilea didn't know how to respond. She just stood there, trying to understand the meaning behind her words.

"How are you feeling, Thiago?" Ilea heard Bruce ask the boy.

"My chest hurts." the boy replied, so quietly that it sounded more like a whisper.

Bruce sighed and put the stethoscope down.

"What's wrong?" Ilea asked him.

"That's the problem," Bruce replied "I don't know. I first thought he had a flu, but last week he began to show different signs. It would be the best if we could get him to a hospital and scan his body, but the next one is hours away and still there would be no way they could afford it."  
He looked at the boy.

"And what does that mean?" Ilea asked again, even though she knew the answer.

Bruce looked back at her and slightly shook his head.  
Then he stood up. "I need to talk to Ms. Rendja, would you please stay with him for a minute?"

But before she could answer he had already left the room, together with the woman.

After a short moment of hesitation Ilea stepped to the bed again and sat down at the corner.

The boy looked at her. They both were quiet for a while.

"You look like you're sad." Thiago suddenly said, his voice just a whisper.

"I am."

The boy laid his small hand on her arm.  
"That's ok. I'm sometimes sad too."

Ilea smiled at him. But his touch had set off something inside her. She could literally feel that there was something wrong with his body. It was not the first time she felt something like this. Since she had first opened her eyes after she vanished something had changed. Not just her, but the world, or at least how she sensed it. Like somebody had flipped a switch deep inside her. She could feel the atoms all around her, not in a distracting way, but more like her ability had turned into a sixth sense.

She waned to try something. Carefully Ilea moved her hand and laid it on the boy's chest. She closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to feel his body only with her ability.

After a few seconds she could feel that the problem of the boy's illness was at his heart. There was a tiny hole in it, where there shouldn't be one.

"Is something wrong Ilea?" she heard Bruce's voice, but kept her eyes closed.

She tried to close the hole, transforming the atoms so they could bind with the others. Again it was easier for her than she thought.

She opened her eyes again, just to see Bruce and Ms. Rendja standing right next to her.

Ilea stood up to make way for Bruce.  
"Could you check him again? I think I found the problem and I… fixed it."

Bruce gave her a confused look, but got his stethoscope out of his bag again to place it on Thiago's chest again. The boy already took deeper breaths.

"His heart is beating normal again." Bruce said startled.

* * *

As Ilea and Bruce arrived back home it was already lunchtime.  
The ride had been mostly quiet. Bruce had tried to ask her to explain what exactly she had done, but Ilea didn't want to. Her powers always got her into trouble; she couldn't risk it to tell him about them. Even if she did he'd surely not believe her.

"Do you have like, um, a special ability to heal people?" Bruce asked her as he placed his bag on the floor.

It was the first time he directly asked about an ability.

"No I don't, it's… way more complicated." she replied.

"You said the same thing yesterday."

"I did."

"You know, I could try to understand it if you would explain it to me."

But Ilea just shook her head. She knew that that wasn't fair of her. Bruce had found her and cared for her and she could at least reward him by explain everything to him. But she couldn't, not right now.

She could still see Thiago in front of her eyes. He looked so much like Jamie.  
Ilea swallowed hard to suppress the upcoming tears. She wouldn't cry. Not right now and not in front of Bruce.

She heard him sigh.

"Ok, how about we eat something I'm already hungry."

Ilea nodded gratefully and sat down on the table.

"I need to say that I don't have much to offer." he said while he opened the cupboard.

"Cereals would be great." Ilea replied.

Bruce got some out of the cupboard and two bowls and placed them on the table.

While they ate Ilea realized that she didn't know much of Bruce either.  
Just that he was a doctor of since and of course a normal doctor. She didn't even know his surname.

"Where do you actually come from?" Ilea asked him "You don't look like you're from here."

"I used to work in New York." he replied.

"New York? And why would you quit a job there?"

"I don't know. The work was just a bit… too stressful. Not good for my temper."

Ilea wondered what he meant with that. But something seemed common to her as he said New York. As if she knew he was from there. But there was no way she would.

"I don't even know your surname." she said.

"And I don't know yours."

"Mine is pretty lame, my parents seemed to be not very creative when they named me." she said with a faint smile "Ilea Ilinos. I. I."

"Hah, mine is B. B." he replied "Bruce Banner."

Something inside her head made 'click'.  
And she couldn't understand how she didn't realize it yesterday. His hair was shorter and he was not wearing glasses but it was truly him.

It was Bruce Banner. Hulk.

That's impossible.

How on earth did she land, out of _all_ places she could have landed in, on front of his doorstep?

"Are you alright?" Bruce asked her with a slightly irritated look.

Ilea realized that she was starring at him with still a mouthful cornflakes.  
She swallowed the by now squashy flakes and shook her head.  
This was all so absurd.  
Yesterday she woke up in the Avenger's headquarter and the very next day she sat in front of the Hulk, in the middle of nowhere.

She couldn't help but start to laugh.

Bruce looked at her as if she was well on the best way to go insane.

"Do you believe in destiny?" Ilea asked after she gathered herself together enough to speak.

"Why do you ask?" Bruce replied frowning.

"Because you're Hulk!" Ilea said and wiped a tear out of the corner of her eye. She noticed how Bruce winced slightly at the last word.

"And yesterday I was having lunch with Captain America and the rest of the squad and right now I'm having lunch with you! Out of all the places I could have ended up I got here. This can only be destiny, can't it?"

Ilea began to laugh again, a strident, desperate laughter. But after a few seconds her eyes filled with tears and the laughter turned into sobs more and more.

Bruce quickly got her a tissue.

"I'm sorry," she managed to say after a few minutes "this is just too much. Everything is. I don't know if I can bear this anymore."  
She buried her face in her hands.

"Ilea," Bruce began softly "I see you've gone through a lot lately. How about you try to explain it to me?"

Ilea blew her nose and smiled at him hopelessly.  
"I don't even know where to start."

Bruce gave her an understanding smile.  
"How about at the very beginning?"

* * *

 **Don't worry, they won't stay there. Pls don't forget to review! :)**


	12. Time to leave

**Here comes the next update!**

* * *

Ilea couldn't remember when was the last time she had actually woken up recovered from a sleep, but this day she did.

Maybe it was because the heavy weight she had felt on her chest was gone.  
She had talked with Bruce till the late evening, or lets say she talked _to_ Bruce. He had just listened.

Ilea knew it had been a risk to tell him everything, but she hadn't been able to hold it back any longer. She told him about the ability she was born with, the time in the lab, where she also met Jamie, then how the Avengers had rescued them and her time in the headquarter. As she had told him about the battle and Jamie's death Ilea didn't cry for the first time, as she had been too exhausted.

Ilea also didn't tell him anything about the relationship she had to Pietro, but she was sure Bruce had already figured it out by the way she looked when she said his name.

Bruce was a good listener. He hadn't interrupted her and showed how much he cared. As she had explained her power he had been very impressed and as she demonstrated it to him he needed a minute to get over it. As a doctor of science it had to be even more unbelievable, Ilea thought.

After she had finished her story they both said nothing for a while.

"I think it would be the best if you go back. They'll already wonder where you've been." Bruce had told her then

"I can't" was the only thing she could reply.

Bruce nodded. And Ilea was grateful that he had understood her.

But now that she stood up from the sofa the next morning she could see that she was alone in the house. Maybe Bruce had to leave again for another patient and didn't want to wake her. Still tired she stood up and got herself some breakfast.

As she ate her gaze went around the house. It stayed at a door to the left and she wondered what laid behind it.

After Ilea finished she went into the bathroom to brush her teeth and splash a bit water into her face. Bruce seemed to be not such a big coffee fan, so she needed other ways to perk up.

As Ilea got back into the living room her gaze automatically went back to the closed door. She couldn't resist temptation anymore so she walked over and carefully pressed her left ear against the wood.

She could hear different sounds of which one sounded like someone was tapping on a keyboard, the other sound she couldn't quite bring in line with.  
Curiously she opened the door.

It was a laboratory. Not one of those scary ones Ilea had spent a year in, but with lots of monitors and other technical stuff.  
She could see Bruce sitting in front of one of the biggest screes. Next to him was a printer that made the noise.

As she stepped in Bruce turned around surprised.  
"Oh, good morning, I thought you were still asleep."

"Good morning." Ilea replied and walked towards the screen to take a look at it. She didn't understand much of the different graphics and numbers, but she recognized the design was the same as she had seen in the Avenger's headquarter.

Bruce saw her questioning gaze.  
"I still got access to all the information of the headquarter." Bruce explained. "I don't really know why but I'm sure Tony is behind it."

The printer stopped.

"And what are you searching for?" Ilea asked.

Bruce looked a bit guilty. He took the small stack of sheets from the printer.  
Ilea could see what was written on the first page: _Report of the attack_ followed by the date of two days ago.

"I wanted to have a look at the report of the battle you told me about yesterday. I want to know if I knew any of the agents that died, and if the rest if the team is ok."

Ilea nodded. She couldn't blame him for wanting to know what exactly happened in the battle, as she hadn't been able to tell him everything.

He put the first sheet aside and read the next one. He sighed with relief as he reached the bottom.

"Can I, erm, see it too?" Ilea asked as he wanted to put it aside too.

"Of course." he replied and handed her the sheet.

On the top stood the title _Losses_ , followed by a list.

 _Loss of Agents:_

 _Agent Argon, Tyler_

 _Agent Cress, Samantha_

 _Agent Elnad, Dan_

and so on. There were at least 20 names. Even though she had known a few names of the agents of the headquarter none of them seemed familiar and she felt a bit guilty that she couldn't really feel sorry for them. At least Agent Hill's name wasn't on it.

The page ended with: _Loss of others_ :

The names had to be on the next sheet Bruce was still holding in his hands. She didn't know if she actually wanted to see it, as Jamie's name would stand there.

Bruce frowned.  
"You told me Jamie died in that battle."

"He did." Ilea replied. Why was he asking?

"But he didn't." Bruce replied.

Ilea got angry. Why did he have to argue with her about it now? She was the one who saw him die.

"He died right in front of my eyes! Can't you see the name on the list?!"  
She stared at him angrily, hot tears burning in her eyes.

"It's not Jamie's name." Bruce said calmly and turned the page around so she could see it.  
"It's yours."

Ilea couldn't believe what she just heard.  
"No. No, it can't be. I saw him die, right before I…" _before I relocated myself._ But none of the others could have known that.

But there was her name, in cold print right under " _Loss of the Avenger's team_ ":

 _Ilea Ilinos._

Right next to it followed the caption _: killed by own powers._

The rest of the page was a blank space, showing her that no one else had died in the battle.

"Ilea." Bruce slowly said and looked into her eyes. "Jamie is alive. It says he didn't die in the battle. You did."

Ilea pressed her hand against her mouth. "Oh god."

Jamie was alive.

But what has she done?

She let them believe she was dead. Jamie, Pietro, and all the others were sure about her death. How could she have been so stupid and ignore that fact.

She jumped to her feet and started to walk up and down the room.  
"I need to get back. Now."

"And how are you planning to do that?" Bruce asked doubting.

"I don't know. I'll just try to relocate myself. I got it once so maybe I'll be able to do it once more."

"That won't be a good idea. Without enough practice you'll land elsewhere."

"I'm sorry, but you can't stop me from going back."

"I didn't say that."

He stood up and grabbed his bag as he walked towards the door. He signed her to follow him. Outside Bruce shortly stopped at the electricity box. He turned down a switch that cut off all the electricity in his house.

"What are you planning to do?" Ilea asked.

"You'll see." Bruce replied and continued walking around the house.

At the back they stopped in front of something huge, covered by a big canvas cover.

She could see a grin on Bruce's face as he grabbed the cover with both hands and pulled it aside.

"Are you frickin serious?!" Ilea shouted excited.

She couldn't believe her eyes.

In front of her stood a jet. Not the one you can see on an airport but the kind of special jet she had only seen in the headquarter.

"How did you think I made all the way from New York to Guyana?" Bruce asked.

"Are you telling me you have a license for this?"

"I don't exactly have a license" he admitted "but Tony showed me how to fly it."

Ilea shook her head in disbelief. Of course he had to have a jet. And know how to fly it. In this world of superheroes everything always had to work out perfectly somehow.

"What are you waiting for?" Bruce asked. He had pressed some button on the jet that lowered the tailgate. He took a step on it and shot an asking look at her.

"And we're are going now? Just like this?" she asked.

"Yes, just like this. You know, as an avenger you sometimes have to be spontaneous." he chuckled "Ok, to be honest, I had planned to bring you to the headquarter anyway."

"But, I thought you didn't want to go back? Or why else would you live in the middle of nowhere?"

Bruce sighed and scratched the back of his head, something he did when he didn't know what to answer, Ilea knew by now.

"I don't think that I need to hide anymore. It's time for me to go back. And I can still return here if I need to."

Ilea smiled at him and stepped onto the tailgate too.

* * *

If Pietro had to be honest, he'd say that he didn't believe what Dr. Cho told them.

It's not that he wouldn't want Ilea to be alive too, but the chances were so low that that it was almost impossible. Not raising false hope would be the best way.

Not like Jamie did.

Yesterday he had already been released from the medical station as his condition was perfect, even after being shot and dead for a whole day. Jamie had spent the day mostly with Wanda and him, but the others had also joined them, as they all wanted him to miss Ilea not too much.

Pietro had tried to explain it to Jamie that there is a chance that Ilea wouldn't come back anymore. But Jamie had refused to accept that possibility.

"No, she promised me she would never ever leave me alone." he had insisted "She pinky-promised!" he added and proudly lifted his pinky in the air.

What should he have answered?

After Pietro had put him to bed he had spent the rest of the evening interrogating some of the captured intruders together with his sister, but it was hard to get anything out of them. And because of a little incident his sister had told him to quit for that day and get some sleep.

One of the agents had called Ilea a 'fucking freak' and had laughed as heard that she had died. His sister had to drag Pietro out of the room before he could beat the shit out of him.

It was very early in the morning now as Pietro finally decided to get up. His dreams had been full of nightmares again and as he woke up at 4am, drenched with sweat, he had been to afraid to close his eyes again. So he had just laid in his bed, watching the sun slowly rising through his window, and wishing Ilea was there to calm him.

As he went into the kitchen to get himself a coffee he almost expected Ilea to stand there, with her 3th cup of coffee in her hand and smiling at him. But of course she wasn't.

His phone vibrated in his pocket, telling him that he got a message. He got it out and looked at the screen.  
Fury was calling the Avengers for a meeting as he had new information.

Because Pietro was already in the living room he got himself a coffee and sat down at the big table to wait for the others to arrive.

They all too looked like they've been thrown out of the bed, except for Vision and Natasha who of course, always looked like she just came from a catwalk. They were almost the complete team: Him, Wanda, Tony, Steve, Clint, Natasha and Vision. Just Thor and Banner where missing, but there was nothing to change about that now.

Fury arrived at last, already wearing his common black uniform.

"We got one of agents to talk." he told them straightforwardly.

"I'm sorry to tell you that Hain wasn't the head of this organization that planned the attack."

"What?!" Pietro exclaimed.

"Yes." Fury continued. "It seemed like the base we took out on our last mission should just be a distraction."

He slid his phone to the middle of the table, which instantly stated to projected a hologram. It was a satellite image of a huge building.

"This is the real base. It's not in Europe, as we firstly thought, but in Michigan. One of greatest, and hopefully last offspring of HYDRA."

They were all quiet for a minute. Pietro took a closer look at the image. It was at least three times bigger than the one they had took down in their last mission. Even though they would be a bigger team this time it would still going to be a tough piece of work.

"So you want us all to take this one down?" he asked and laughed dryly. He was not sure if he'd survive it this time.

"There's a reason we're called Avengers." Steve told him.  
"Let's bring this to an end. And avenge Ilea."

* * *

 **Well, it's slowly coming to an end...**  
 **Please don't forget to review!**


	13. Coming back

**Well, here comes the chapter you've all been waiting for!**

* * *

When she had got into the jet Ilea didn't really expect Bruce to be a good pilot, but he did his job well. The Quinjet was faster than normal ones and so they'd just need 3 more hours to New York.

Ilea sat on a chair next to Bruce that was actually for the copilot, as it was one of the bigger jets that were meant to transport multiple agents, and tried not to touch any buttons.

She could've sat in the back but only in the front you'd have such a great view. Bruce had decided to take the shortest route that went straight across the North Atlantic Ocean, so below them Ilea could see nothing but the blue sea through some holes in the heavy cloud cover. Still the view was breathtaking. Ilea herself had never been on a plane before. She felt so little compared to the great mass of water.

"What are you thinking about?" Bruce asked her suddenly.

He had been quiet on the whole flight, something Ilea was thankful for as she didn't know what to talk about.

"I'm still wondering how I got to land in front of your doorstep. I mean, what were the odds?" she admitted.

Bruce smiled, his gaze still fixed ahead.  
"I thought about this too. And if you look at the odds it really seems to be impossible."

"Then how the heck did I land here?"

"Well, my assumption would be that you somehow knew my address. I'm sure Fury had already tracked me and maybe you've accidentally seen it once on a computer screen and forgot about it. But our subconscious mind is a fascinating thing, making us remember things we never thought we would."

Ilea didn't answer. It was true, in the past weeks she had spent in the headquarter she wandered around the building a lot, sometimes looking at the screens at the main centre, but without understanding much.

"That could be possible." she finally answered.

For now Ilea was ok with that explanation, as there were more important things she should think about. She couldn't wait to see Jamie again and hoped that he didn't miss her too much. Ilea was sure he wouldn't have just accepted her death.  
But what about Pietro? She was sure it had broken his heart as much as hers. Would he still want her if she came back? And what about the others?

A sound of the small monitor in the middle of the panel board interrupted her thoughts.

Bruce frowned and looked at the monitor. He tapped on it a few times and read something that was shown.

"What is this?" Ilea asked curiously.

"This Quinjet is still connected with the ones in the head quarter. It says another jet has started to leave for a big mission in Michigan and it's calling other agents that are not in charge for backup."

Ilea felt the blood in her veins freeze.  
"What big mission?"

Bruce tapped again on the screen and turned it so ilea could see it too.

It showed a huge building that looked like the base she had been held in, just at least five times bigger. On the compound around it she saw that it was heavily armed, with tank-like cars, and armed bunkers. It would be sheer suicide to try to go there.

"Who," she asked with a shaking voice "who is on their way there."

"The Avengers." Bruce answered.

They were quiet in shock for a minute.

"We need to help them." Ilea stated.

" _I_ am going to help them. It's too dangerous for you. I'll stop at the headquarter to drop you off."

"No way. I'm coming with you. You have no idea how immense my powers are. Without my help you wont come any far."

"But-" Bruce began but was cut off by Ilea.

"I'm coming with you! Those are my friends, my family! I'm not going to let them fight and maybe die while I sit at home safely!"

Bruce sighed.  
"I guess if I drop you off you'll try to relocate yourself there anyway."

She nodded.

He sighed again, a very deep sigh, and Ilea knew she had won.

"How far are they ahead of us?"

"At least two hours. One if I speed up."

"Speed up?"

"You should better buckle up." Bruce answered with a small grin as he slightly corrected the course and pressed a big button.

* * *

Pietro felt the adrenaline shoot through his veins as the base came in sight.

Steve, being the leader of the team, had already presented them the battle plan. There was no way they could get directly to the base unnoticed so they wanted to land a mile away. Pietro and Tony should directly try to get into the base and prevent the enemy from backing up. The rest of the team will be fighting outside, as there was the most force.

The jet landed as soundless as it had started. Besides a few commands of Captain America none of them said a word. They all knew how dangerous this mission is going to be and that maybe not everyone will make it out.

But that was the job hazard, wasn't it?

"Three jets of our own agents are on the way, but we can't wait till they arrive or they will become suspicious when they see them on their radar." Steve told them as everyone prepared for the battle.

They all got outside. The jet had landed on a small clearance in a forest. A few hundred meters ahead started the compound of the base. And the battle.

Pietro looked around. The sky was grey and cloudy, it seemed like a storm was on it's way. It was a typical autumn weather. The air was neither warm nor cold, but Pietro could clearly feel a tension in it. It smelled like fir needles and a strong wind rustled through the branches of the surrounding trees.

His sister stepped next to him and grabbed his hand.  
"Please, be careful." she told him and Pietro could clearly hear the sorrow in her voice.

Since the battle in Sokovia she had always been afraid of loosing him again on every mission he went on.  
But her worry was reasonable this time. Not just that this mission was more dangerous than any he had been on since Sokovia, but because he had a goal this time.

To avenge Ilea's death. No matter what it would cost.

"I will." he lied.

He still loved his sister more than anything but during the last days he had been riven by grief. There was not much more he cared about except for his sister and Jamie. But maybe they were well without him anyway.

His sister nodded and left to discuss something with Vision.

Tony landed next to him. He was wearing his iron suit.  
"You should listen to your sister." Tony said without looking at him.

Pietro didn't answer.

"I know you've been through a lot the last days, but that shouldn't be a reason to become careless." Tony added.

"I'm not careless. I'm doing this for Ilea." Pietro answered sternly.

A growling thunder echoed through the air.

"We all do." Tony sighed.

"Well," he then said "are you ready?"

"I've never been more ready." Pietro answered and rushed towards the base.

* * *

As they flew above the base Ilea could already tell that the battle was in full spate.  
The compound around the building was full of fighting people and you could see and hear explosions everywhere. For a moment Ilea thought she saw Natasha's red hair but it was already gone. The base itself didn't look any better. Many windows were broken and here and there flames were leaping out the building.

"I'm going to land somewhere in the forest." Bruce told her.  
Ilea could see the same worry she felt in his face as he too looked at the battle below them.

He found a clearance and Bruce managed to land safely.

Ilea let down the tailgate and looked around surprised. Only now she recognized three other jets that stood near them.

"Seems like we found their parking lot." Bruce deadpanned. "The Quinjets are built that one can't see them from above." he explained as he saw Ilea's surprised look.

A lightning struck the air, shortly followed by a thunder.

"There's a big storm coming soon." Bruce said.

Ilea nodded. She could already hear the battle even though they were a few hundred meters away.

Bruce didn't seem to need preparation for the battle _. Why should he, I mean he's hulk_ , Ilea thought. She herself had found some combat gear in one of the lockers that were in the back of the jet, that was presumably meant for the agents. She had picked herself one in her size and had tried it on. The black trousers looked like they were made out of leather but it was a different material Ilea didn't knew. The black shirt was pretty normal but the leather jacked she put on top was of the same material as the trousers and as comfortable. It fitted perfectly on her body and Ilea had automatically felt stronger and more confident. She also had put her hair in a tight ponytail.

But now as they both walked closer to the edge of the forest Ilea's confidence faded. Maybe she didn't have enough control of her powers to fight in a real battle? And how should she be able to find the others?

"It's ok, you can still go back to the jet." Bruce told her kindly without looking at her.

But Ilea firmly shook her head. She didn't come her just to back down.

As they reached the beginning of the compound Ilea had to take a deep breath. The battle seemed even more threatening from up close.

"So, erm, what exactly is the plan?" Ilea asked Bruce.

He just shrugged.  
"I don't know. Maybe just storm in and destroy the enemy?"

Ilea nodded. "That's a good plan."

She didn't look back as she rushed towards the battle, hearing Hulk's battle scream behind her.

* * *

Pietro didn't know in what part of the building Stark was right now, and to be honest, he didn't even know where he himself was. He still had his earphone to communicate with the others but he barely listened to it. The only thing he had to do was to run around the building, taking down every enemy he saw on the way. It was actually easy.  
He saw Hain's face in every single one of them.

After rushing up a small staircase he stopped at some important looking door.  
Without hesitation he opened it and stepped in.

He saw a few people sitting in front of screens, showing the battle in different points of views. In the middle stood a man, apparently the leader, who gave commands towards them.

Everyone stopped and looked at Pietro when he entered the room. Within a few seconds he had knocked them off and turned towards the leader. He already pulled a gun but Pietro had taken it out of his hand before his finger could even find the trigger.

The man surprised looked at his now empty hand and then laughed.

"Ah, Pietro Maximoff. How fast you have changed sides."

"I've never been on your side." he replied angrily.

"Well, then my information must be wrong. Or isn't it true that you came with your sister to HYDRA? Who do you think you owe your powers to?" the man said scoffing.

"Back then I didn't know HYDRA was-"

"What? Destructive?" the man laughed again. "Look around you. Were we the ones who started this battle?"

Pietro had enough of this, he had no reason to listen to this man any longer. He was just wasting his time.

But then suddenly a mischievous expression appeared on the man's face. Pietro hadn't recognized how the man had gotten something out of his pocked while he had talked. It was a small gadget with a red button. He pressed it as Pietro was still looking at it and laughed again, a strange, maniac laughter.

He heard a great explosion near him and one of the walls and parts of the ceiling fell apart. He didn't look back as he rushed out of the room back into the aisle, before it fully collapsed. He ran along the floor, searching for an exit.

"Stark!" he shouted into his earphone "Get out of the building! It's collapsing!"

"Yeah, I noticed!" Tony replied after a few seconds. "Why do they always need to blow up their buildings?!"

Pietro dashed forwards- just to stop as the ceiling in front of him crashed down to the floor. He quickly turned around and ran in the opposite direction.  
He stopped at a window. He was on the third floor right now but because of his training he should be able to jump down without breaking every single bone.

But just before he could try to smash the window, he heard a second explosion.

He only felt the heat weave before the blast threw him against the window, which broke under his weight. He recognized he was falling, right before everything around him went black.

* * *

Ilea had lost count of how many enemies she had taken down. Or lets say, how many of them she had _dissolved_. But this time she didn't feel guilty, or not as guilty as she used to. If she wouldn't kill them, they'd instantly kill her, or one of her team.  
Speaking of her team, Ilea still couldn't find them. She had already seen a few of the agents from the headquarter, but none of the Avengers.

She stopped running for a minute as she was out of breath. Ilea wished she had trained with Pietro more often.

She looked up again and saw a shock of red hair a few meters ahead of her.  
Natasha stood with her back to Ilea and held a gun in each of her hands.

"Natasha!" she shouted and ran towards her.

Natasha turned around with a shocked expression and her eyes widened even more as she recognized Ilea.

Ilea nearly threw both of them over as she hugged Natasha tightly.

After a few seconds of shock Natasha returned the hug.  
"I knew you weren't dead!" she exclaimed, followed by "How the heck did you get here?!"

They were both interrupted by a loud noise. One of those tank-like cars was coming their way and the armed men already aimed at them. But before Natasha could react Ilea had created a wall between them, and the car crashed against it with full force. She made the wall dissolve again to look at the result. The car was now only a pile of junk.

"Did you just do that?!" Natasha asked.

Ilea nodded.

But before Natasha could continue they heard a loud explosion, shortly followed by a second one. A strong blast wave followed that nearly knocked them over.  
Ilea saw how parts of the base collapsed.

Natasha instantly touched her earphone but Ilea couldn't hear what it said.

"Stark says they blew up the building." Natasha told Ilea. Then she pressed against the speak-button at the phone and said "Ilea is alive. She is here with me. And she is alive. Did everyone hear that?"

Natasha didn't wait for the answer, as they were shortly interrupted by new enemies, who were no big problem for the two women.

"I brought Bruce with me." Ilea said while she made one man dissolve and punched the other one in the face, glad about the fact that the training had actually paid off.

"I know, I heard him." Natasha answered and Ilea could hear the grin on her face.

A red blur appeared which took down the rest of the enemies around them.

"Ilea!" Wanda shouted and ran towards her to hug her tightly.  
"I knew it!" she added as she finally freed Ilea from the embrace.

But then a frown appeared on her face and Ilea could see that she and Natasha listened to something that was said through their earphone.

"Stark said he made it out the building, but Pietro won't reply to the earphone." Natasha said so Ilea could understand them too.

"Pietro?!" Wanda tried now and pressed her phone. She waited for an answer, but it seemed like there was none.

The blood in Ilea's veins froze. She looked over at the building, which was collapsing more and more. _No, he can't be in there_ , was the only thing she could think. But what if he was?

She needed to get there. Now. But a few hundred meters separated her from the base, and she wasn't as fast as Pietro.

What if she just relocated herself? It had been exhausting to relocate herself across a whole continent, so half a mile shouldn't be that hard.  
Without hesitation she closed her eyes and concentrated herself on appearing at the building.

It felt a bit strange, like she was stuck a vortex, but as she opened her eyes again she stood right next to the base. Or what was left of it.

A heavy rain had started now and was making it harder to look out for anyone.

There was no way she could get back in, it would be suicide. If Pietro was still in there, Ilea was sure there was no way to rescue him.  
She shook her head and tried to suppress the upcoming panic. _No, Pietro is fast, he surely got out of the building, maybe he had just lost his earphone_ , Ilea told herself.

As she didn't know what to do she ran along the building. Maybe he was still nearby.

And then she saw him. He laid a few meter across her in the grass, his eyes closed.

Ilea shouted his name but he didn't react.

The tears in her eyes blurred her view as she ran the last meters towards him.

She hit her knees as she knelt down next to him, but she didn't care. Ilea instantly looked for his pulse and she caught her breath as she couldn't find one. Desperate she laid her hand on his chest and sighed with relief as she felt a slight heartbeat. But it was way to slow.

Only now she saw that his blood had soaked the wet grass around him red.

She looked up. A window high above her was crushed. If he had fallen out there...  
Instantly Ilea placed both her hands on his chest and used her powers to examine his body for wounds.

She swallowed hard. He had many broken bones and heavy internal injuries. His body already began too heal, due to his fast metabolism, but Ilea knew it wasn't fast enough.

The realization that he was dying beneath her hands hit her like a slap in the face.

 _I can't lose him_ , she thought and a sob escaped her lips, _not again. It's all my fault._

Her clothing was already drenched from the rain and the strong wind made her fingers numb, but she didn't feel any of it.  
She concentrated all her powers on healing his broken body. He barely breathed anymore and his heartbeat slowed down too fast.

 _Please,_ Ilea begged over and over again, _Please don't die_.

She raised her head towards the sky to release a frustrated cry. The sudden exertion drained all of her strength.

As she felt that here was nothing left in his body to fix Ilea looked down at him again, but refused to take her hands off him.

"Please, Pietro, open your eyes!" she whispered at him.

He still showed no reaction.  
What if she didn't heal him fast enough?

"Don't leave me alone now!" she yelled in desperation.

The rain had turned into a light drizzle now and the raindrops on her face mixed with her own tears.

For a few seconds nothing happened.

But right before Ilea's world should fall apart

he opened his eyes.

* * *

The first thing he saw was her.

It had always been her.

"Ilea." Pietro said drained "Am I dead?"

"No." she answered crying and took his face in both of her hands.

"You came back."

"I'll always come back for you." she whispered and leaned down to kiss him.

At the soft touch of her lips he fully became conscious again. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed her body tightly against his. He could taste the salty tears mixed with the rain on her lips.

"I thought you were dead." he whispered against her lips after they had to stop to catch breath.

"I know." Ilea answered and more tears escaped her eyes. "I'm sorry. God, I'm so, so sorry. Can you forgive me?"

Instead of answering he pulled her down again to kiss her, tenderly this time.

"Of course I do." he then said.

Ilea smiled with relieve and blinked the tears away.

Pietro groaned as he tried to sit up.  
"I feel like I've just been run down by a crash of rhinos." he said.

"I just saved your ass." Ilea laughed "I healed your wounds but you should still be careful. Can you get up?"

He stood up and testing stretched his limbs.  
"How did you do that?"

"Let's say I kinda… leveled up." Ilea replied with a smile.

She looked back at the ruin that used to be the base.  
"Did you really fell out a window in the third floor?"

Pietro chuckled and looked around the grass. He bend down to pick up the earphone he had lost on the fall.  
"Not on purpose."

He put it back into his ear and pressed the speech-button "Sorry guys, I lost the phone for a minute. I'm at the base with Ilea."

A silence followed as Ilea saw him listening to the response.

"Steve said we almost won the battle." Pietro told her "And that we should stop making out and go back to work." he added with a grin.

Ilea laughed and together with Pietro they stormed off into the battlefield again.

* * *

"JAMIE HAS POWERS?!" Ilea exclaimed shocked. She was together with the other Avengers in the Quinjet on their way back to the headquarter. After they'd won the battle everyone had at least hugged her for half an hour and assured her how extremely happy they are that she's back. Right now Wanda was telling her about what had happened after she'd left.

"Trust me, we were as shocked as you are." Wanda told her.

Ilea needed a minute to get over this. But now that she really thought about it, that would explain a few things. Like the little incidents that had happened, where something suddenly disappeared without Ilea using her powers. But still _how could she have not noticed?_  
She sighed and shook her head.

"But there's one more thing," Wanda added carefully, "his powers not only include your manipulation of atoms, but, erm, he can't die."

"He can't die." Ilea repeated in disbelief.

"Yup."

"He's.. immortal." Ilea continued.

"Not really. Dr. Cho said he's aging like a normal human, but his wounds are healing extremely fast. That's maybe also why you can't die when you relocate yourself."

"You think I have that power too?!"  
She had stopped walking back and forth and stared at Wanda.

"It could be a mutation Jamie got while he was experimented on, but I think not." Wanda told her.

Ilea thought back. If she had to be honest, she had never been to a hospital, had broken any bones or had been seriously ill.

"We could just test it." Tony suggested who sat at the front and flew the jet. "Romanoff could shoot her."

"Don't you dare!" Wanda exclaimed, simultaneously whit Steve's "No shooting in the jet!"

Ilea heard Pietro laugh who sat across from her.

"Not kill her," Tony said indignant "like, just to see how fast she heals."

Now Ilea had to laugh to. She walked over to Pietro as the others started a discussion with Tony.

"You should at least try to defend me." she said and leaned down to him.

"I'm sure you wont need me to do so." he replied with a grin. He pulled her a bit closer and placed a tender kiss on her lips.

"I'm glad you two are finally official." Ilea hear Natasha say "I thought this would go on _for ages_."

Ilea laughed and turned around to stick out her tongue at her.

After 30 more minutes the jet finally landed at the headquarter, and Ilea couldn't wait to see Jamie again.

The boy ran towards her as she got into the living room, where Agent Hill has taken care over him.

"I knew they will find you!" he told her as she picked him up and twirled him around.

"Remember what I promised you?" Ilea asked and hugged him tightly.

"That you will never ever leave me alone."

"Correct."

Pietro followed into the room and Ilea sat Jamie down so he could welcome him.

"Hey Jamie." Pietro greeted him and ruffled through his hair.

"Ilea?" Jamie asked and turned towards her again "Are you going to stay here now?"

Ilea smiled and walked towards them.

"I think so." she answered.

"Yeah!" Jamie exclaimed and rushed out the room where he could already hear Tony and Steve walking along the aisle.

Pietro took advantage of the moment he was alone with Ilea and grabbed her hand to pull her towards him.  
Ilea laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I've missed you." Pietro told her and looked into her eyes.

"I missed you too." Ilea told him. "But I'm not going to leave again any soon." she added with a smile.

She felt her heart beating faster as he now wrapped both arms around her and pulled her even closer.

"I love you. And I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier." he whispered as he put his forehead against hers.

"I love you too." she replied and laid a hand on his cheek so he looked down at her. She stood up on tiptoes to kiss him. He sighed and put one hand in her hair. He didn't know when was the last time he had been this happy.

"I hope you two are not planning to make out all the time now!" Ilea heard Tony's voice as the other Avengers entered the room.

Ilea laughed. It seemed that a great future laid ahead of her.

* * *

 **One more chapter will follow! (Simply cause I love it when stories have an epilog)**


	14. Epilog

**Here comes the epilog and the very last chapter! Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to read my story and thanks for all the reviews, they helped me a lot to continue writing!**

* * *

 **\- 3 months later -**

Ilea woke up as the sun streaks warmed her face.

She slowly opened her eyes. It still had to be early in the morning.  
But she wasn't alone in the bed.

She could feel Pietro's slow but steady breath on her shoulder. Her head rested on his arm while the other one was wrapped around her, pressing her back to his chest.

Ilea didn't want to wake him so she carefully laid his arm aside and stood up.  
She stretched herself and then picked her underwear off the ground, where Pietro had tossed it last night.

"Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?" she heard his sleepy voice from the bed.

"You do it every day. Multiple times." Ilea answered with a smile and put on her underwear.

She could feel Pietro's gaze on her as she searched for the rest of her clothing. She gave up looking for her shirt so she just picked up his and put it on.  
Ilea felt how he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back on the bed.  
She laughed as he pinned down on the mattress.

"I love it when you wear my clothes." he said and leaned down to kiss her.  
"As much as I love it to see you without any." he then added with a grin.

She smiled at him.  
"How about we just stay in bed for a few more hours?"

"No chance." he laughed and let go of her "It was your idea to continue your training, and the morning jog is part of it."

Ilea pouted and stood up.  
"I should better get into my own room and put on some of _my_ clothes."

"I'm sure the others already know we share a bed." he smirked.

Ilea grinned and stuck her tongue out at him.

* * *

As she came into the living room Pietro was still not in sight.

"So much for getting up early." Ilea mumbled and shook her head.

She went into the kitchen, just to find Fury who was already busy pouring coffee in his cup .

"Ah, good morning Ilea." he greeted her.

"Good morning." she replied and went to the coffee machine. Instead of getting a cup out of the cupboard, she materialized one in her hand.

"I see you're making progress with your powers." he told her and filled her cup too with coffee. "It's actually good that I meet you, I have to discuss two things with you."

They sat down on the table and Fury handed her some papers.

"Wow, I didn't know it works that fast." Ilea said and looked through the sheets.

"I have some contacts." Fury said with a, by his standards, huge smile. "But I also see no problems in you wanting to adopt him."

Ilea nodded and put the papers down on the table again.  
"Jamie has never been to a proper school. I think he should befriend with kids that are more his age."

Fury nodded approving. With Dr. Cho's help they'd found a way to reduce the most part of Jamie's powers, until he was old enough to handle them.

"What was the second thing you wanted to tell me?" Ilea asked and took another sip of her coffee.

"That would be something more personal." Fury began.

"Is it about my relationship with Pietro? Because I'm not going to-"

"No it's about something different." he interrupted her.

Ilea sighed in relieve.

"Ilea, do you know who your parents were?"

She hadn't expected that question.  
"Well, no." she answered confused "They'd both left soon after I was born. That's why my aunt raised me."

Fury didn't seem surprised by that answer.

"Have you ever heard the name _Inhumans_?"

Something deep inside Ilea stirred. But she shook her head.  
"No, sorry I didn't"

"That's alright. It's just a little theory of mine." Fury told her.

He smiled and took a sip of his coffee.  
"I think there's someone waiting for you." he remarked as he looked outside.

Ilea hadn't noticed how Pietro had rushed past them and now waited for her outside. She sighed at the training that laid ahead. It was way too early for her to do some workout.

"The early bird get's the worm." Fury laughed as she reluctantly made her way to the door.

"But have you ever considered that the early worm gets eaten?" she mumbled back but smiled.

Pietro grinned at her as she stepped outside.  
"Are you ready for some training?" he asked.

Ilea smirked and walked towards him.

"I know a lot of things we could rather do." she said teasingly and laid one hand on his chest. His grin widened but before he could lean down to kiss her Ilea relocated herself a few meters ahead to his jogging route.

"Just tell me when you're ready!" she laughed as she turned around began to run.

* * *

 **Well, here we are. I hope you liked it and please don't forget to review! I'll maybe, when I have more free time, write a sequel (If you want me to do so you should of course tell me in your reviews! ;) )  
Love ****ya'll!**

 **-LucyInTheWardrobe**


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